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BV  2063  .W3  1909  c.l 
Warneck,  Jon.  1867-1944. 
The  living  Christ  and  dying 
heathenism 


CO 


I 


(*     FEB    3  1910      *j 

7)k?  Z/zw  ggrag  of  the  Gospel  "^£o/CAl  St^ 


The  Living  Christ 

and 

Dying  Heathenism 


The  Experiences  of  a  Missionary 
in  Animistic  Heathendom 

y  By 

JOH.  WARNECK,  Lie.  Theol. 
Superintendent  of  Missions 

Authorized  Translation  from  the  Third  German  Edition 

By 
REV.  NEIL  BUCHANAN 


New  York         Chicago         Toronto 

Fleming  H.   Revell  Company 

London        and       Edinburgh 


PREFACE  TO  THE  ENGLISH  EDITION 

This  book  is  a  psychological  study  based  upon  the  author's 
experience  as  a  missionary  among  the  animistic  heathen  of 
the  Indian  Archipelago.  There  has  been  much  unanimity 
among  German  missionaries  as  to  his  conclusions,  and  the 
author  would  take  advantage  of  this  translation  of  his  work 
to  appeal  to  all  English  speaking  missionaries,  and  those 
interested  in  the  work  and  lite  iture  of  missions,  for  their 
criticism  and  observations.  He  found  that  the  conversion  of 
heathen  in  Netherland  India  was  effected  by  stages  ;  it  would 
be  extremely  valuable  to  him  to  know  whether  the  experience 
of  missionaries  in  Africa,  in  Oceania,  in  Central  America,  in 
India  and  China  are  similar  to  his  own.  He  would  like 
especially  to  learn  the  minds  of  missionaries  on  the  following 
questions  :  Whether  the  first  thing  in  the  Gospel  that  attracts 
is  deliverance  from  the  fear  of  demons  ;  whether  the  sense  of 
sin  and  the  longing  for  forgiveness  is  a  later  growth  ;  whether 
Christ  is  accepted  first  of  all  as  a  Deliverer  from  the  devil, 
then  from  the  state  of  fear  in  which  their  lives  are  spent,  and 
last  of  all  as  the  Saviour  from  sin?  Are  the  features  of 
Animism  as  he  has  described  them  in  the  first  part  of  his 
book  essentially  the  same  among  other  peoples?  Similar 
notions  of  the  soul  are  found  in  China,  Africa,  Suriname, 
even  in  Greenland,  and  many  other  places.  It  would  seem  as 
if  Animism  were  the  primitive  form  of  heathenism,  maintain- 
ing itself,  as  in  China  and  India  to  this  hour,  amid  all  the 
refinements  of  civilisation.  The  study  of  Greek  and  old 
German  Religions  exhibit  the  same  animistic  features.  The 
essence  of  heathenism  seems  to  be,  not  the  denial  of  God  but 
complete  estrangement  from  Him.  The  existence  of  God  is 
everywhere  known  and  a  certain  veneration  given  Him.     But 


8  THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

He  is  far  away,  and  is  therefore  all  but  ruled  out  of  the 
religious  life.  His  place  is  taken  by  demons,  who  are  feared 
and  worshipped.  The  author  would  esteem  it  a  favour  were 
any  missionaries  to  communicate  with  him  (Missionshaus, 
Barmen,  Germany)  their  experiences  and  thoughts  on  any  of 
these  matters. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  THIRD  GERMAN 

EDITION 

The  favourable  reception  given  to  his  psychological  study  of 
missions  strengthens  the  author's  conviction  that  foreign 
missions  have  something  to  say  to  the  home  Church  and  to 
theology,  which  is  ever  called  upon  to  consider  the  move- 
ments of  the  times.  The  essays  which  appeared  in  Kahlers 
"  Angewandten  Dogmen,"  almost  contemporaneously  with 
this  book,  called  upon  missionaries  to  prepare  their  experi- 
ences amid  their  conflict  with  heathenism  for  the  use  of 
theologians.  The  "Living  Forces  of  the  Gospel"  was  quite 
unconsciously  a  modest  answer  to  that  invitation.  It  is  very 
gratifying  to  missionaries  to  find  that  theological  speculations 
about  missions  agree  so  strikingly  with  their  practical  experi- 
ence. I  have  observed  with  increasing  surprise  and  delight 
how  a  believing  study  of  the  Bible  supports  the  theory  and 
practice  of  missions,  and  how  the  experience  of  missionaries 
confirms  convictions  which  such  students  have  already  reached. 
That  is  a  suggestive  fact  of  which  I  have  not  been  able  in 
this  treatise  to  make  any  use,  but  which  I  may  turn  to 
account  in  a  later  work. 

As  my  enquiry  was  breaking  fresh  ground  I  was  ready  to 
welcome  any  new  facts  or  criticisms  from  the  experience  of 
my  colleagues.  However,  they  have  been  in  essential  agree- 
ment with  me.  In  this  edition  I  have  attended  to  some 
minor  objections  and  have  changed  phrases  that  were  mis- 
understood. Too  little  time  has  elapsed  since  the  appear- 
ance of  the  book  to  allow  colleagues  of  the  mission  field  to 
pass  any  detailed  judgment  upon  it.  It  is  to  them  mainly 
that  I  look  for  help  in  dealing  with  the  questions  which  I 
have  raised. 

From  another  quarter,  however,  I  have  been  counselled  to 


10       THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

give  a  more  thorough  and  dispassionate  study  to  problems  in 
the  history  of  religion,  especially  in  view  of  the  results  in  the 
science  of  comparative  religions,  i.e.  to  recognise  that  the  idea 
of  evolution  at  present  ruling  the  scientific  world  must  also 
rule  in  the  investigation  of  religion.  I  am  not  so  unacquainted 
with  the  literature  of  the  subject  as  my  critics  suppose.  But 
as  I  have  come  to  different  results  it  could  not  lie  in  the  plan 
of  my  work  to  show  any  agreement  with  the  religious  and 
philosophical  presuppositions  of  those  men,  for  whom  I  have 
a  high  esteem.  I  had  and  have  no  desire  for  controversy ; 
my  object  is  simply  constructive.  I  described  animistic 
heathenism  as  concretely  as  I  could ;  I  confined  myself 
strictly  to  that.  I  set  down  facts  of  my  own  observation 
and  those  of  other  colleagues.  I  began  with  the  facts  of 
experience  ;  then  I  drew  inferences  from  them.  If  these  do 
not  agree  with  the  dominant  hypothesis  of  evolution,  that  is 
due  to  the  brutal  facts  and  not  to  the  "  religious  and  historical 
presuppositions  "  of  the  observer.  I  do  not  deny  that  some- 
thing can  be  said  for  the  idea  of  evolution  in  the  religions  of 
mankind,  but  the  study  of  Animism,  with  which  I  have  long 
been  familiar  as  an  eyewitness,  did  not  lead  me  to  that  idea. 
Rather  the  conviction  which  I  arrived  at  is,  that  animistic 
heathenism  is  not  a  transition  stage  to  a  higher  religion.  I 
think  I  have  adduced  sufficient  facts  to  establish  that,  and 
facts  do  not  vanish  away  before  hypothesis.  Let  them  pro- 
duce facts  to  prove  that  animistic  heathenism  somewhere  and 
somehow  evolved  upwards  towards  a  purer  knowledge  of 
God,  real  facts,  not  imaginary  constructions  of  such  an 
evolution.  Any  form  of  Animism  known  to  me  has  no 
lines  leading  to  perfection,  but  only  incontestable  marks  of 
degeneration. 

I  have  worked  as  a  missionary  for  many  years  in  intimate 
contact  with  thousands  of  the  adherents  of  animistic  heathen- 
ism, and  I  have  been  convinced  that  the  determining 
force  of  that  heathenism  is  hostile  to  God.  I  was  forced  in  a 
hand  to  hand  conflict  with  it  to  consider  the  powers  at  work 
therein.  Behind  the  animistic  notions  which  interest  the 
observer  are  mighty  forces ;  whether  these  come  from  above 


PREFACE  TO  THE  THIRD  GERMAN  EDITION  11 

or  from  beneath  cannot  be  decided  a  priori.  The  missionary 
comes  sooner  or  later  to  feel  them.  And  the  attitude  of 
heathenism  towards  the  Christian  religion,  always  hostile, 
suggests  that  it  divines  an  enemy,  not  a  superior  brother. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  Christianity  succeeds  only  when,  after 
much  deep  ploughing,  it  has  turned  up  a  fresh  human  soil. 
The  best  converts  from  heathenism  are  its  severest  judges. 

This  stern  estimate  of  heathenism  does  not  forbid  the 
missionary,  to  whom  a  thorough  knowledge  of  his  people's 
religion  is  of  the  first  importance,  collecting  with  care  and 
recognising  frankly  as  of  Divine  origin  whatever  it  contains 
of  longing  for  God,  of  moral  feeling,  and  of  desire  for  better 
things,  nay  rather  it  demands  it.  I  thought  I  had  made  that 
sufficiently  plain  in  my  book.  But  in  heathenism  the  gold  of 
the  divine  thoughts  becomes  dross.  At  best  what  true  thoughts 
are  there  are  an  undercurrent  ;  in  no  case  do  they  afford 
a  decided  religious  or  slowly  ennobling  motive.  I  have  not 
devoted  a  special  chapter  to  these  religious  values  ;  I  thought 
they  were  more  likely  to  be  rightly  estimated  when  placed 
in  their  proper  connection.  Who  would  care,  as  a  missionary 
among  the  heathen,  to  lead  a  life  of  conflict,  of  disappoint- 
ment and  privation,  unless  he  were  convinced  that  the  vox 
viva  evangelii  would  be  heard  even  in  the  most  depraved 
heathen  heart ;  unless  he  believed  that  even  the  Animists 
because  they  are  e/c  Qeov  are  also  «V  Oeov. 

The  author's  intention  was  to  set  the  darker  powers  of 
heathenism  over  against  the  quickening  forces  of  the  Gospel. 
He  felt  impelled  to  do  so  by  experiences  similar  to  those 
which  befell  those  earlier  missionaries,  who  determined  to 
declare  to  the  Church  at  Antioch,  "  All  that  God  had  done 
with  them  and  how  He  had  opened  the  door  of  faith  unto 
the  Gentiles  "  (Acts  xiv.  27  ;  xv.  3,  4,  1 2).  It  is  written  of 
them  :  "  They  caused  great  joy  to  all  the  brethren."  To-day 
as  of  old  the  victory  is  with  the  Gospel,  that  Gospel  of  which 
the  great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  from  a  rich  experience, 
testifies  that  it  works  ovk  ev  Xoycp  /ulovov,  aWa  Kai  ev  Swajuei 
Kai  ev  TrvevfActTi  ayiw  kou  TrXrjpo<popin  TroWy  (1  Thess.  i.  5). 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


PAGE 


Introduction    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  17 

Success  of  modern  foreign  missions — What  forces  of  the  Gospel 
are  at  work  therein  —  Gain  to  mission  workers  and  to  the  home 
Church  from  answering  that  question — Difficulties  of  the  enquiry — 
Limitation  to  the  animistic  heathenism  of  the  Indian  Archipelago — 
Authorities — Course  of  the  enquiry. 

I.  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM  I 

A.  A  PICTURE  OF  BATTAK  HEATHENISM 

1.  Belief  in  the  Gods  .....  27 

Chief  gods — Accounts  of  creation — Lower  deities — Formation  of 
myths  from  phenomena  of  nature — Dim  idea  of  the  one  Supreme 
God — Worship  of  God  and  of  the  gods— Prayers — Sacrifice — Deceiving 
the  gods. 

2.  Animism  the  Basis  op  Spirit  Worship    ...  39 

The  soul — Soul-stuff — All-soul — All  parts  of  the  body  informed 
with  soul — Head,  liver,  blood,  hair,  nails,  teeth,  sweat — Shadows — 
Names — Dreams— Fatalism — Soul-stuff  in  animals,  plants,  objects — 
Mutual  relation  of  souls — Cannibalism — Fetiches — Mutual  influence 
of  souls — The  soul  as  an  object  of  worship — Capture  of  souls — 
Prayer  to  the  soul — Lack  of  moral  feeling — The  soul  after  death — 
Fear  of  the  soul — Mourning  usages  the  outcome  of  fear — Kingdom  of 
the  dead — Order  of  rank  there — Immortality. 

3.  Spirit  Worship       ......  63 

Relation  of  the  dead  to  the  living — Fear  the  motive  of  ancestor 
worship — Lamentations — Ancestors  revered  as  guardians  of  custom — 
Evil  spirits — Worship — Media  of  worship — Ancestor  images — Men  as 
media — Shamanism — Festivals  of  the  dead — Sacrifice — Magical  in- 
fluence— Conflict  with  the  spirits — Flight  from  them — Deceiving  them 
— Spirit  worship  the  centre  of  the  religion. 


B.  THE  CHARACTERISTIC  FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC 

HEATHENISM 

1.  Formal  Uncertainty  op  Heathenism      ...  81 

Religious  ignorance — Appeal  to  the  forefathers — Moral  uncertainty 
— Inconsequences — Longing  for  sure  knowledge — Seeking  for  God. 

13 


2. 


14        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 


PAGE 


2.  Lies  in  Heathenism  .....  88 

Lying  about  God,  about  the  value  of  life  and  the  value  of  per- 
sonality— Lying  about  morality — Lying  power  of  the  magician — The 
heathen  willing  to  be  deceived — They  are  given  to  lying  and  are  dis- 
trustful. 

3.  Heathenism  is  Estrangement  from  God  .  .  96 

The  heathen  dimly  perceive  God,  but  do  not  have  Him — God  driven 
into  the  backgroun  1 — No  relation  to  Him — The  idea  of  God  in  contra- 
diction with  the  religion  not  the  result  of  development — Religious 
degeneracy — Demons  have  thrust  themselves  between  God  and  men — 
God  eliminated  by  fate. 

4.  Heathenism  is  Bondage    .....  108 

The  Animist  enslaved  by  fear  and  notions  of  constraint — Fear  of 
souls,  of  spirits,  of  men — Demon  worship  widespread — The  demons  to 
them  realities— View  of  the  heathen  Christians — View  of  the  early 
Church— Biblical  conception— Bondage  to  fate— Killing  of  personal 
freedom  and  self-determination— Capacity  for  redemption. 

5.  Heathenism  is  Selfishness  ....  122 

Love  scarcely  known — Cruelty  and  brutality — Roots  of  selfishness  in 
Animism — Struggle  for  existence. 

6.  Perversion  of  Morality  in  Heathenism  .  .  125 

Not  without  virtues — Custom  in  place  of  morality— Whatever  use- 
ful good — Ancestors  guardians  of  custom — Custom  dependent  on 
animistic  religion  —  Cruelty  permitted — Unchastity  in  union  with 
Animism— Custom  has  no  reference  to  God — No  retribution— Fatalism 
kills  moral  judgment. 

7.  Heathenism  is  Worldliness         ....  130 

Materialism  of  the  soul  cult  and  of  religion— No  hope  of  compensa- 
tion in  a  future  life. 


II.  FIRST  CONTACT  BETWEEN  HEATHENISM 
AND  CHRISTIANITY 

A.  ANTAGONISTIC  ATTITUDE  OF  HEATHENISM 

1.  The  Christian  Religion  is  Rejected      .  .  .  135 

Religion  a  national  affair— Heathenism  conservative— Distrust  of 
the  foreigner— Christianity  specially  strange— Its  messengers  Euro- 
peans—Its contents  repel  the  materialistic  heathen — Vis  inertia — 
Fanatic  opponents. 

2.  Christian  Morals  Rejected         ....  147 

The  heathen  think  they  have  morals— Perversion  of  the  moral  idea— 
Self-righteousness  and  self-deception— Morality  rooted  in  the  religion 

—Custom The  heathen  have  no  desire  to  become  other  than  they 

are— Fatalism— The  Gospel  as  a  demand  makes  no  impression. 


CONTENTS  15 

B.  AGENCIES  THAT  CLEAR  THE  WAY  FOR 
CHRISTIANITY 

I'AGE 

1.  The  Heathen's  Sense  op  Misery  .  .  .  156 

Poverty,  slavery,  cruelty — Consciousness  of  these — Medical  help — 
Sad  fruits  of  heathenism — Longing  for  peace. 

2.  The  Heathen's  Need  of  Education        .  .  .  162 

Civilised  peoples — Uncivilised   peoples — Longing  for  useful  know- 
ledge— Zeal  in  learning — Schools  open  the  way  into  heathen  regions. 

3.  Superiority  op  Christian  Races  .  .  .  165 

Missionaries  esteemed  as  representatives  of  a  superior  culture — 
Desire  to  profit  from  their  wisdom — Their  words  are  listened  to. 

4.  Power  op  the  Moral  Personality  op  the  Evangelist  167 

His  love  and  unselfishness — His  truthfulness — Trust  in  him — Belief 
in  him — Value  of  the  personal  mediation. 

5.  Influence  of  Christian  Colonial  Powers       .  .  171 

Shattering  of  heathenism   by   removal   of  its   cruelties — Creating 
peace,  the  condition  of  successful  preaching. 

6.  Preparatory  Interpositions  of  God       .  .  .  175 

His    mighty    help — Impetus     by    dreams,     visions,     prophecies — 
Examples — Psychological  agencies. 

7.  Individual  Truth-Seeking  Souls  .  .  .  182 

These  are  gifts  in  the  early  day*  of  mission  work — Their  functions — 
They  are  pioneers. 


III.  THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

Laws  op  Mission  Development       .  .  .  .  188 

Many-sidedness  of  the  Gospel  gift — The  gift  commends  itself  in  pro- 
portion to  the  sense  of  want. 

1.  The  Heathen  Won  by  the  Certainty  of  the  Gospel 

Message         .....  .  191 

Its  certainty  impresses — Need  of  certainty  and  authority— The 
messenger  of  the  Gospel  must  himself  be  certain — The  Gospel  as 
assertion — Personal  testimony. 

2.  The  Gospel  brings  Truth  because  it  is  a  Revelation  195 

The  idea  of  revelation  is  accepted — No  doubt — Power  of  the 
revealed  word — It  appeals  to  the  inner  nature — Missionary  must 
be  certain  of  the  revelation— Religion  without  revelation  worthless 
to  the  heathen — The  messenger's  certainty  must  not  lead  him  to 
contend  with  and  mock  the  heathen  religion  —  The  controversial 
missionary  not  sufficiently  versed  in  heathenism — The  smashing  of 
idols  excites  wrath— Fear  is  not  conquered  by  mockery — Animists 
not  convinced  by  logic — Evangelical  missions  recognise  elements  of 
truth  in  heathenism — Importance  of  positive  offer. 


16       THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

i'AGR 

3.  The  Gospel  brings  the  Personal  Living  God  .  210 

One  God — The  Creator— His  power — Impotence  of  idols — God 
known  in  Christ — Fostering  of  personal  relation  to  God — Strong 
faith — Childlike  confidence — Joy  in  prayer — Greatness  of  these  gifts 
— Proclamation  of  the  acts  of  God  —Significance  of  the  Bible  stories 
of  Old  and  New  Testaments — Their  power — Impressions  of  the  person 
of  Jesus,  the  self-revelation  of  God — The  experience  of  missions  a 
vindication  of  the  Bible  stories. 

4.  The  Gospel  brings  Deliverance  from  the  Fear  and 

Worship  of  Spirits     .....  232 

Deliverance— Jesus  the  conqueror  of  demons— The  kingdom  of 
God  and  its  King — The  great  experience  of  the  heathen — The  Gospel 
commends  itself — Power  of  the  spirits  broken — Freedom  and  joy — 
New  life  to  the  nation — Fear  vanishes — Final  break  with  idolatry — 
Turning  from  idols  to  God— Significance  and  difficulty  of  this  step- 
New  religious  life. 

5.  The  Gospel  brings  the  Love  of  God  .  .  .  251 

Is  not  received  even  as  a  gift— Preparation — Testimonies  of  heathen 
Christians — Jesus  as  proof  of  God's  love — His  death— The  love  of  God 
experienced  in  Jesus  crucified — Power  of  His  person — Those  who  have 
Him  true  Christians — Jesus  crucified  opens  their  minds  to  perception 
of  sin — Sin  experienced  as  that  which  separates  from  God  —Keen  sense 
of  sin  in  all  better  heathen  Christians — Jesus  worshipped  as  God. 

.  The  Gospel  brings  Morality     ....  266 

This  at  first  in  the  background — First  a  new  relation  to  God — Then 
all  things  in  new  light — Relation  to  Jesus  decisive  —Relation  to  God 
must  be  preserved — Multitude  of  new  tasks — Thankfulness — Evan- 
gelisation— Obedience — Jesus'  example — Freedom — Sense  of  responsi- 
bility awakened — Conscience  formed  —  Continuous  moral  work — 
Struggle  against  national  faults  and  customs — Special  excellences  of 
heathen  Christians— Power  of  public  opinion — Characteristic  defects 
— Conflict  with  Animism  —  Relapse  into  heathenism  —  Power  of 
temptation. 

7.  The  Gospel  brings  the  Hope  of  Eternal  Life        .  294 

This  gift  at  first  rejected — Preparation — It  becomes  valuable  after 
relation  to  God  is  gained — Living  hope — Joyous  dying — Belief  in 
resurrection. 

Conclusion       .......  302 

The  rich  gifts  of  the  Gospel,  not  moulds  but  types  of  heathen 
conversion — Comparison  with  spectrum  analysis — Obscuration  of  the 
band  of  colours— Jesus  the  unity  of  the  rays — The  light  of  the  heathen 
— The  mind  of  Jesus  the  measure  of  the  new  life — Power  goes  out 
from  Him. 


Index 


309 


INTRODUCTION 

It  is  an  historical  fact  that  modern  foreign  missions  have 
produced  and  are  producing  magnificent  results,  a  fact  which 
cannot  be  gainsaid  even  by  those  who  have  little  sympathy  with 
missionaries  or  mission  operations.  Protestant  Christendom, 
ever  since  it  began  to  carry  into  effect  its  mission  thoughts, 
has  had  abundant  experience  of  the  Magnolia  Dei  among  the 
heathen.  Thousands,  nay,  millions  of  heathen  in  the  most 
diverse  stages  of  civilisation  have  renounced  idolatry  and 
entered  into  fellowship  with  the  living  God.  They  have 
turned  away  from  idols  with  a  genuine  aversion,  have  given 
up  the  vices  of  lying  and  immorality,  together  with  the  horrors 
of  bloodshed  they  were  wont  to  practise,  and  have  learned 
from  their  new  faith  to  be  truthful  and  honest,  merciful 
and  kind.  The  Gospel  has  made  them  new  men,  with  new 
thoughts,  new  feelings,  new  volitions.  Many  nominal 
Christians,  some  hypocrites  here  and  there,  may  be  found 
among  them,  but  countless  thousands  have  been  truly 
converted,  and  have  confirmed  the  reality  of  their  inward 
change  by  a  corresponding  change  of  life. 

Mission  work  has  accomplished  even  greater  things  than 
this ;  it  has  gained  a  notable  victory  over  entire  tribes  and 
nations.  The  Kols,  the  Karens,  the  Battaks,  the  Niassers, 
the  Alfurus  of  Minahassa,  the  Waganda,  the  Basutos,  and 
the  tribes  of  many  South  Sea  Islands,  are  there  to  prove  that 
the  Gospel  is  capable  of  completely  transforming  whole 
nations,  delivering  them  from  idolatry  ;  it  has  turned  their 
swords  into  ploughshares,  their  rule  of  might  into  a  law 
fashioned  by  Christian  principles  ;  it  has  naturalised  humanity 
and  civilisation  in  their  midst.  Many  a  heathen  people, 
accepting  the  Gospel,  has  been  changed  fundamentally. 

In  view  of  these  results  of  Protestant  foreign  missions  it 


J> 


B 


17 


18       THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

should  be  a  seasonable  and  profitable  task  to  trace  out  the 
effects  of  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  the  mission  field,  and 
to  enquire  what  powers  are  most  effective  in  that  preaching 
for  the  Christianising  of  the  heathen.     Wherever  there  are 
visible  results  the  forces  that  produce  them  can  be  observed. 
What,  then,  are  the  forces  of  the  Gospel  that  are  producing 
results  of  such  importance  ?     The  "  Gospel,"  as  we  call  it,  is 
infinitely  rich  and  many-sided,  containing  a  great  variety  of 
God's  gifts  to  men  ;   it   brings  the  love  of  God  to  a  selfish 
world,  all  kinds  of  deliverance  to  the  enslaved,  truth  to  the 
deluded,  wisdom  to  the  foolish,  reconciliation  with  God  to 
the  sinner,  help  to  the  suffering,  a  new  heart  to  the  unclean ; 
it   purifies   and   ennobles   earthly   relations  ;    it   unites   the 
world  with  God ;    it   brings   to    mankind  joy,    peace,    and 
freedom  ;  it  emancipates  the  enslaved    masses   and   invests 
the     individual    with    personal    responsibility    and    worth. 
Which  of  these  various  gifts  produces  those  results  in  the 
heathen  world  ?     Is  it  the  lofty  morality  of  Christianity  that 
conquers  the  heathen  ?     Is  it  the  majestic  personality  of  the 
Son  of  Man  or  the  mystery  of  the  Son  of  God  ?     Is  it  Jesus 
the  Reconciler,  or  the  sublime  example  of  the  fairest  of  the 
sons  of  men  ?     Is  it  the  spiritual  superiority  of  Christianity, 
its  civilising  power,  or  its  promise  of  deliverance  from  sin 
and  guilt  ?     Are  we  to  regard  one  or  other  of  these  powers 
as    central,    or    are   we   confronted    with    an    inextricable 
intermingling  of  the   most   diverse   influences   whose  roots 
remain  undiscovered  ?     The  practice  of  foreign  missionaries 
has  hitherto  been  to  narrate  to  the  heathen  the  stories  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments,  to  instruct  them  in  the  law  and 
the  promises,  to  set  forth  the  crucified  before  their  eyes,  to 
commend  the  Saviour  of  sinners,  to  endeavour  to  awaken  the 
hope  of  eternal  life  and  to  instruct  them  in  the  duties  of  a 
new  life.     Which  of  those  diverse  incitements  contains  the 
vital  powers   that   work   so   mightily  ?     Do   they   all  work 
together?     Or   does  the   power   lie   elsewhere   in   a  region 
perhaps   less  noticed  ? 

It  is  worth  while  following  up  this  question  even  at  the 
risk  of  getting  a  different  answer  from  what  we  hoped  to  get. 


INTRODUCTION  19 

Mission  work  can  only  welcome  such  investigation  in  its 
own  interests.  Every  effect  of  the  Divine  word  is,  no  doubt, 
a  mystery  which  cannot  be  fully  explained  by  psychology  nor 
divested  completely  of  the  wonderful.  Force  itself,  even  in  the 
investigations  of  the  physicist,  is  a  mystery,  yet  we  get  nearer 
it  by  exact  observation.  And  just  as  in  the  kingdom  of 
nature  we  can  trace  back  definite  phenomena  to  definite 
forces,  and  reach  a  more  complete  and  exact  description 
thereof,  so  in  the  kingdom  of  God  observation  of  actual 
results  may  help  us  to  a  more  exact  investigation  of  the 
forces  underlying  them.  Our  question  then  comes  to  this : 
vital  powers  are  imported  into  and  become  operative  in  the 
heathen  world  through  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel ;  what 
are  those  quickening  Gospel  powers  ? 

Should  we  succeed  in  answering  this  question  the  gain 
would  not  be  small.  In  the  first  place  it  would  be  a  gain  to 
the  mission  worker.  The  messenger  would  have  a  clear  idea 
of  what  was  vital,  essential,  and  indispensable  in  his  message  ; 
he  would  know  what  he  must  first  communicate  to  those  he 
is  seeking  to  evangelise.  As  a  wise  teacher  he  must,  at  first, 
in  his  offer  of  salvation  aim  at  what  is  central.  More  than 
any  other  worker  in  the  Church  he  is  compelled  to  put  to 
himself  the  question :  What  is  the  essential  element  in  the 
Gospel  message  ?  Many  reasons  will  constrain  the  mission- 
ary, especially  among  a  primitive  people,  to  begin  with  an 
offer  of  the  kernel  of  the  Gospel.  A  long  after-training  of 
the  converts,  continued  even  for  generations,  will  be  necessary 
ere  they  can  enter  into  the  fulness  of  its  spiritual  wealth. 
But  what  is  the  fundamental  truth  which  the  missionary 
should  offer  to  the  heathen  to  enable  them  to  become 
genuine  Christians  before  they  can  acquire  a  full  knowledge 
of  the  word  of  God  ?  The  missionary  will  always  act  here  in 
accordance  with  his  own  personal  conception  and  experience 
of  what  is  the  essence  of  the  Gospel.  He  may  be  wrong 
in  his  methods  ;  he  may  even  be  materially  wrong ;  in  that 
case  he  exposes  himself  to  the  danger  of  doubting  the 
power  of  his  message.  But  the  more  successful  mission 
work  becomes,  the  more  legitimate  will  it  be  to  infer  from 


20       THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

what  the  heathen  accept,  the  manner  in  which  they  accept  it, 
and  the  forces  that  are  set  free  among  them  by  that 
acceptance,  what  is  the  kernel  and  power  of  Christianity 
which  must  be  emphatically  presented  as  fundamental,  and 
what  are  its  less  important  elements  to  be  set  aside  for 
the  time  being,  even  although  they  should  appear  to  the 
evangelist  to  be  of  the  first  order  of  importance. 

The  missionary  will  also  gain  a  better  understanding  of 
the  spiritual  life  of  the  heathen  and  heathen  Christians  by 
attending  to  the  effects  of  his  preaching  on  the  souls  of  his 
hearers.  He  will  thereby  escape  the  danger  of  making  his 
own  spiritual  life,  the  standard  for  measuring  the  progress 
of  his  converts,  or  setting  up  the  course  of  his  own  inner 
development  as  a  law  of  Christian  life,  binding  even  on 
heathen  Christians.  He  will  thus  be  preserved  from  carrying 
on  a  propaganda  rather  than  a  mission,  i.e.  from  labelling 
instead  of  inwardly  renewing  his  adherents.  Immature 
Christians  are  prone  to  imitate  the  outward  forms  of  Christian 
life  which  they  observe  in  their  leaders,  to  speak  the  language 
of  Canaan,  to  copy  the  demeanour  of  Godliness  and  thereby 
to  impose  upon  their  pastors.  What  is  real  to  the  preacher 
may  become  to  them  a  mere  phrase.  An  understanding  of 
their  psychological  condition  will  warn  the  missionary  against 
desiring  to  see  the  little  David  strutting  in  Saul's  armour,  or 
bringing  up  Christians  against  his  will,  who  by  hypocritical 
imitation  conceal  those  defects  which  can  scarcely  be  over- 
come at  the  present  stage  of  their  inner  life.  If  he  sees 
clearly  the  effects  of  the  Gospel  on  the  heathen  and  on  those 
who  are  becoming  Christians,  he  will  appreciate  more 
accurately  the  supposed  defects  of  their  spiritual  life  and 
judge  better  of  their  reality.  He  will  learn  to  wait  with 
greater  patience  for  fruit  during  the  period  when  the  laws  of 
spiritual  growth  allow  nothing  to  appear  save  young  shoots 
or  rudimentary  blossoms  ;  he  will  be  able  to  judge  soberly 
and  lovingly  the  results  of  his  evangelistic  labours  and 
discover  with  thankfulness  germs  of  life  where  the 
uniustructed  eye  sees  nothing.  The  observer  of  missions 
from  the  outside  will,  if  he  takes  the  trouble  to  study  those 


INTRODUCTION  21 

powers  in  their  progressive  development,  be  more  just  in  his 
judgment  than  the  superficial  critic  of  missions  usually  is. 

The  answering  of  our  question  might  also  enrich  the  Church 
at  home.  Custom,  with  its  paralysing  and  blinding  power, 
has  always  prevented  Christians  from  seeing  what  really  is 
central  in  their  faith.  To  the  pampered  possessor  the  great 
gifts  of  Christianity  easily  become  unintelligible  abstractions 
and  modes  of  speech.  They  are  inherited,  and  that  conceals 
the  real  worth  of  them.  Foreign  missions  yield  manifold 
gifts  to  the  Christendom  that  promotes  them ;  they  fructify 
its  spiritual  life,  quicken  its  various  energies,  and  provide 
new  outlets  for  Christian  love  ;  they  help  us  to  understand 
the  ways  of  God  with  the  nations  at  a  time  when  Christian 
Churches,  enfeebled  by  age,  have  almost  entirely  forgotten  the 
guidance  of  their  youth  ;  from  their  most  prosperous  harvest 
fields  they  make  clear  to  the  Christian  Churches  their  ever 
new  duties,  viz.,  that  of  being  educators  of  the  nations  and 
not  self  complacent  coteries  of  the  elect.  When  the  home 
flowers  are  yielding  little,  missions  gather  fresh  honey  for 
theology.  They  may  also  render  service  to  the  home  Church 
by  setting  forth  in  large  unmistakable  letters  the  quickening 
powers  of  the  Gospel.  Not  that  Christianity  needs  to  be 
supported  by  any  apologetic  of  that  sort.  But  not  unfre- 
quently  its  professors  need  to  be  lifted  to  a  higher  platform, 
whence  with  clear  vision  they  may  no  longer  confound  what 
is  incidental  and  secondary  with  what  is  essential,  and  see  great 
and  small  in  their  due  proportions.  The  grandeur  of  mission 
work  corrects  the  spiritual  perspective  of  a  faithful  Church. 

But  the  enquiry  is  confronted  with  considerable 
difficulties,  which  render  the  obtaining  of  a  sure  answer  some- 
what doubtful.  We  must  know  heathenism  exactly  as  it  is 
before  we  can  rightly  appreciate  the  resistance  which  it  offers 
to  the  Gospel.  Anyone,  therefore,  who  wishes  to  observe  the 
effects  of  the  Gospel  on  the  heathen  world  must  have  a  per- 
fect knowledge  of  heathenism.  To  give  a  true  picture  of 
heathenism,  however,  even  although  we  confine  ourselves  to 
a  single  phase  of  it,  is  a  very  difficult  matter.  Where  shall 
we    find   an    absolutely   reliable    account   of    anv   heathen 


22       THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

religion  ?      Many  observers  incline  to  dwell  unduly  on  its 
favourable  side ;  others  bury  in   the  gloom  of  the  heathen 
"night"    the   outline    of  the   picture.     The  former  under- 
estimate the  downward  drag,  and  the  latter  fail  to  see  the 
distinctive  peculiarities  of  the  religion.     It  is  hardly  possible 
for  travellers,  in  their  brief  sojourn  and  imperfect  knowledge 
of  the  people  and  their  language,  to  get  a  thorough  know- 
ledge of  their  religion.     The  shy  pagan  does  not  care  to  have 
the  foreigner  prying   into   his  sanctuary.      Scholars  whose 
knowledge   of  heathenism   is   not    obtained   from   personal 
observation  are  in  danger  of  constructing  the  heathen  religion 
at   their   study  table.     And  Christian   missionaries   do   not 
always  give  the  requisite  earnest  study  to  the  heathenism 
they  wish  to  overthrow,  especially  when  it  is  breaking  up 
around  them.     Often  they  are  blamed,  and  not  always  un- 
justly, for  their  prejudice  and  their  lack  of  understanding  of 
heathen  religion.     Yet  in  the  estimate  and  description  of 
heathen  religions,  the  rank  of  crown  witnesses  must  be  given 
to  missionaries.    Their  constant  living  with  the  heathen,  their 
exact  knowledge  of  the  language,  customs,  and  legal  relations, 
enable  them  to  see  into  the  depths  of  their  religion  more 
clearly  than  any  other  Europeans.    They  offer  Christianity,  and 
that  compels   them  to  make   a  thoroughgoing   comparative 
study  of  heathenism.     Their  daily  observation  of  the  people 
also  enables  them  to  see  heathenism  as  it  really  is;    they 
witness  its  abominations  and  its  demoralising  powers  ;  they 
feel  its  darkness  and  might  as  painful  realities  ;  they  hear  the 
groans  of  the  oppressed ;    they  see  the   deadly  swamp   of 
heathen  corruption.     And  too  often  they  have  to  experience 
in  their  own  bodily  sufferings  and  martyrdom  the  devilish 
powers  of  heathenism.     But  no  one  is  better  qualified  than 
they  to  disinter  whatever  elements  of  truth  a  heathen  religion 
contains,  to  judge  whether  it  has  representations  of  God  and 
what  they  are ;  whether  beneath  the  dark  surface  any  moral 
and  religious  powers  lie  concealed.     Their  love  for  the  people 
among   whom    they   labour   makes    them    keen    observers, 
especially  of  their  moral  and  religous  life.     Assuming  that 
a  missionary  is   constantly   alive  to  the  danger   of  unduly 


INTRODUCTION  23 

emphasising  the  darker  side,  a  danger  to  which  an  evangelist 
is  perhaps  more  exposed  than  any  other,  we  may  trust  him  to 
give  a  faithful  picture  of  actual  heathenism.1 

There  is,  of  course,  a  copious  missionary  literature  testify- 
ing to  the  results  of  the  Gospel  which  has  little  to  say  in 
answer  to  our  question.  The  missionaries  report  as  to  the 
success  of  their  work  or  the  resistance  that  it  meets. 
But  they  rarely  turn  their  attention  to  psychological  facts. 
Because  of  their  traditionary  standpoint,  few  of  them  take  the 
trouble  to  trace  the  intricate  paths  along  which  a  heathen 
heart  pushes  upwards ;  they  simply  rejoice  in  the  fact  that 
the  disciple  has  reached  the  desired  goal.  And  who  would 
blame  men  in  the  midst  of  a  life  and  death  struggle  for  so 
doing  ?  We  have  not  many  personal  testimonies  of  converted 
heathen  Christians.  Very  few  of  those  who  have  found  the 
way  to  God  are  capable  of  such  an  accurate  analysis  of  their 
experience  as  would  remove  all  doubt  of  its  reality. 

The  world  is  the  mission  field  to-day  ;  it  is  impossible  to 
make  so  wide  a  region  the  subject  of  any  exact  enquiry ;  we 
must  take  one  definite  section  of  it  and  confine  our  attention 
to  that.  Mission  work  among  the  animistic  heathen  of  the 
Indian  Archipelago,  where  that  form  of  heathenism  has  few 
variations,  commends  itself  for  such  study ;  it  possesses  a 
double  advantage.  Heathenism  in  these  islands  lying  between 
India  and  Australia  has  already  been  thoroughly  examined. 
Mission  work  has  also  been  carried  on  with  great  success 
widely  throughout  the  whole  Archipelago,  in  Sumatra,  Nias, 
Celebes,  Ambon,  Halmahera,  and  has  led  to  the  partial  for- 
mation of  national  Churches  of  heathen  Christians.  Here, 
then,  may  be  seen  visible  results  among  a  genuinely  heathen 
people.  An  exact  knowledge  of  one  form  of  the  animistic 
heathenism  of  those  islands,  acquired  through  personal  obser- 
vation by  a  missionary  who  has  a  scientific  interest  in  religion, 
coupled  with  a  comparative  study  of  the  religion  of  kindred 

1 1  am  much  gratified  at  being  able  to  adduce  Professor  Kahler  as  a 
witness  in  favour  of  the  competence  of  the  much  abused  missionary.  He 
says  :  "  Our  missionaries  are  the  only  people  in  a  position  to  observe  genuine 
heathenism  and  the  effects  of  the  Gospel  upon  it." 


24        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

peoples,  encourages  us  to  undertake  a  work  planned  like  the 
present.  Many  a  glance  will  be  thrown  upon  the  religions  of 
Africa  and  of  other  animistic  peoples  as  far  as  they  exhibit 
similar  features.  We  shall  also  point  out  in  passing  certain 
characteristic  elements  which  belong  to  heathenism  every- 
where. The  missionary  may  also  be  allowed  to  base  his 
inquiry  on  that  form  of  heathenism  with  which  he  is  most 
familiar,  that  of  the  Battaks  of  Sumatra.  This  may  be  taken 
as  a  type  of  the  Indonesian  religions,  which  it  is  fitted  to 
be,  because  of  the  surprisingly  uniform  character  of  those 
religions.  The  experiences  of  missions  amid  this  form  of 
heathenism  may  perhaps  encourage  those  who  are  familiar 
with  heathen  religions  of  a  higher  type  to  undertake  a  similar 
inquiry. 

It  will  be  necessary  to  add  to  one's  own  experience  and 
observation  those  of  other  mission  workers  within  the  pre- 
scribed region,  either  to  confirm  or  to  correct  the  results 
obtained.  Hence  numerous  quotations,  more  or  less  detailed, 
are  unavoidable.  At  the  same  time,  in  the  interests  of  truth, 
we  can  only  use  such  as  stand  the  test  of  serious  criticism. 
All  anecdotage  of  doubtful  value  is,  of  course,  ruled  out. 
Men  who  are  both  critics  and  workers  guarantee  the  relia- 
bility of  our  authorities.  A  great  part  of  the  material  quoted 
is  taken  from  Warneck's  "  Allg.  Missionszeitschrift,"  the 
critical  sobriety  of  which  has  done  much  to  secure  for 
missions  a  place  among  the  sciences.  The  reports  of  the 
Rhine  Missionary  Society,  and  those  Holland  authorities 
which  are  mainly  adduced,  may  be  taken  as  absolutely  trust- 
worthy. The  same  is  true  of  the  "  Basler  Missionstudien," 
of  the  literature  of  the  "East  African  Mission,"  of  the 
"  Moravian  Brethren,"  and  others.  A  sober  view  of  one's 
own  mission  work  sharpens  the  eye  for  the  real  in  the 
accounts  of  other  fellow-workers.  A  work  like  the  present 
runs  a  greater  risk  of  giving  offence  to  many  by  its  modera- 
tion, than  of  incurring  the  reproach  of  uncritical  bias. 

To  get  a  clear  insight  into  the  Divine  powers  of  the 
Gospel,  we  must  take  into  account  its  entire  surroundings  as 
it  enters  into  the  heathen  world.     We  must  begin  with  an 


INTRODUCTION  25 

account,  as  faithful  as  possible,  of  the  social,  moral,  and 
religious  practices 'of  animistic  heathenism,  basing  it  upon 
the  Battak  religion,  its  worship  of  gods,  spirits,  and  souls. 
We  shall  then  endeavour  to  comprehend  the  complicated 
religious  beliefs  and  the  characteristic  features  of  the  motley 
cultus  in  order  to  estimate  aright  the  nature  and  power  of 
animistic  heathenism.  This  will  be  necessary  towards  help- 
ing us  afterwards  to  trace  the  counter  working  powers  of  the 
Gospel.  But  before  considering  these  in  detail  the  two 
opponents,  heathenism  and  the  Gospel,  must  be  confronted 
with  each  other.  What  is  the  attitude  of  heathenism  towards 
Christianity  when  first  brought  into  contact  with  it?  What 
are  the  attracting  and  repelling  powers  they  severally  display  ? 
We  need  to  have  as  exhaustive  an  estimate  as  possible  of 
the  natural  factors  which  come  into  operation  as  allies  of 
heathenism  or  of  the  Gospel,  to  hinder  or  further,  to  open  up 
the  way  or  block  it.  Psychological  processes  are  complicated. 
But  we  must  not  shrink  from  the  trouble  of  laying  bare  the 
entangled  roots  of  the  natural  causal  connection.  We  shall 
then  be  in  a  better  position  to  gain  a  clear  view  of  the  powers 
that  transcend  human  explanations,  and  to  see  how  they, 
partly  resting  on  those  surrounding  natural  factors,  partly 
working  against  them,  reveal  the  action  of  the  living  God. 
These  somewhat  minute  preliminary  investigations  will  enable 
us  to  approach  the  question  with  some  prospect  of  success : 
What  are  the  living  forces  of  the  Gospel  which  tell  upon  the 
heart  of  the  heathen  and  upon  those  who  are  becoming 
Christian,  and  how  do  they  act  ? 


ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM  J. 


A.   BATTAK   HEATHENISM1 

Anyone  carefully  observing  the  religion  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Indian  Archipelago  and  its  effects  upon  their  daily 
life,  will  be  forced  to  admit  that  these  heathen  are  very 
religious.  Their  habits  and  customs,  their  laws  and  their 
morals,  their  social  and  family  life,  have  all  a  religious'  foun- 
dation. Religion  seems  to  be  the  determining  power  both  of 
the  national  and  the  individual  life,  and  it  is  in  their  religion 
that  we  must  seek  the  roots  of  their  thoughts  and  the 
motives  of  their  action.2  This  would  indeed  give  them  a 
superiority  over  many  so-called  Christian  nations,  if  the 
reference  to  God  or  gods  constituted  the  essence  of  heathen 
religiousness.  No  doubt  gods  are  known,  their  names 
occasionally  mentioned,  and  myths  about  them  recounted ; 
but  the  gods  are  of  secondary  importance  for  religious  feeling. 
The  central  fact  of  the  Indonesian  religions  is  a  feeling  of 
dependence,  amounting  to  fear,  not  of  the  Deity,  but  of 
sinister  powers,  spirits,  and  souls.  It  is  fear  of  these  powers 
which  alone  impels  those  heathen  to  seek  ways  and  means 
of  averting  their  pernicious  influence.  The  gods  are  really 
powerless  and  apathetic  spectators  of  this  conflict,  and  there- 
fore no  one  gives  himself  any  trouble  about  them. 

If  you  ask  an  intelligent  Battak  about  the  gods  of  his  people, 
he  will  mention  three  names :  Batara  Guru,  Soripada,  and 

1  For  the  following  account  of  Battak  heathenism,  cf.  J.  Warneck,  "Die 
Religion  der  Battak." 

2  In  a  prize  essay  which  I  prescribed  for  Battak  teachers  on  the  theme  : 
Were  the  heathen  Battaks  really  seeking  God  ?  it  was  shown  that  the 
whole  life  of  the  heathen,  not  only  in  its  highest  moments,  but  in  its  daily 
ramifications,  was  related  to  religion.  The  same  impression  is  given  by 
Spieth's  book  on  the  Ewe-tribes. 

27 


28       THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

Mangalabiilan,  with  whom  are  associated  two  others,  Ompu 
Tuhan  Mula  djadi  and  Debata  Asiasi.  The  first  three,  usually 
called  "  the  three  gods,"  did  not  originally  belong  to  Battak 
heathenism,  but  were  forced  on  the  Battaks,  as  on  many 
other  peoples  of  the  Indian  Archipelago,  by  the  Hindus  in 
the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  when  they  ruled  part 
of  the  great  Sunda  Islands.1  In  them  we  find  again  the 
Indian  Trimurti.  The  real  supreme  god  of  the  Battaks  is 
Ompu  Tuhan  Mula  djadi,  whose  name  signifies  source  of 
creation,  and  who  is  now  curiously  thrust  into  the  back- 
ground. To-day  Batara  Guru  (teacher)  is,  in  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  people,  the  supreme  deity.  The  three  Indian 
gods  were  made  sons  of  the  supreme  god  of  the  Battaks, 
and  were  thus  assimilated  into  the  national  faith.2  Batara 
Guru  is  to-day  worshipped  as  the  preserver  of  the  world,  with 
whom  men  have  chiefly  to  do.  He  is  called  Batara  Guru, 
the  god  whom  one  obeys,  whom  one  consults,  on  whom  one 
depends,  from  whom  one  enquires  the  law,  on  whom  the  laws 
of  earth  depend.  To  him  Ompu  Tuhan  Mula  djadi  has 
resigned  his  government  of  the  world,3  so  that  he  has  become 
the  most  popular  of  the  five.  After  him  in  importance  comes 
Soripada,  the  god  who  grants  to  his  worshippers  the  blessing 
of  children.  The  evil  principle  that  works  iu  opposition  both 
to  gods  and  men  is  Mangalabiilan,  who  is  therefore  invoked 
in  prayers  which  are  the  outcome  of  fear.  Asiasi,  who  is 
seldom  mentioned,  means  compassion.     Practically,  the  dis- 

:  The  Hindus  had  then  established  a  mighty  kingdom  on  Java  (Modjo- 
pahit),  whence  they  influenced  the  coasts  of  Sumatra,  and  in  a  peaceful  way 
imparted  to  the  Battaks  some  elements  of  culture,  besides  fragments  of  their 
religion  and  language. 

2  It  is  said  in  a  Battak  legend  that  those  three  gods  sprang  from  a  great 
egg,  which  was  hatched  by  a  fabulous  butterfly,  and  that  Mula  djadi  gave 
them  wives.  This  myth  shows  how  the  popular  consciousness  endeavoured 
to  balance  accounts  with  the  gods  imported  by  the  Hindus.  Another  tradi- 
tion says  that  Mula  djadi  himself  created  those  three  gods,  and  assigned  to 
them  a  dwelling-place  iu  heaven.  That  leaves  Mula  djadi  supreme,  but 
lessens  the  honours  he  receives.     But  it  is  really  only  an  exchange  of  names. 

3  Yet  he  also  troubles  himself  very  little  about  his  human  children  ;  it  is 
said  in  a  Battak  story  :  Batara  Guru,  after  being  once  called  down  to  men  by 
his  messenger  the  swallow,  declared  it  was  too  much  for  him,  and  that  in 
future  he  should  be  left  in  place. 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  29 

tinctions  among  these  five  are  of  little  importance;  in  the 
consciousness  of  the  people  they  are  all  jumbled  together. 
The  ordinary  man  can  give  no  explanation  whatever  either 
of  the  names  or  of  the  functions  of  the  gods.  These  deities 
have  really  nothing  to  do  with  those  of  the  Indian  conquerors. 
Their  persons  are  taken  up  into  the  Battak  Pantheon  and 
refashioned  in  accordance  with  Battak  ideas. 

As  the  Battaks  recognise  Guru  or  Mula  djadi  as  the  highest 
deity,  before  whom  the  other  gods  recede  into  tho  background, 
so  we  find  among  all  the  peoples  of  the  Indian  Archipelago 
one  Supreme  Deity.  Among  the  Malays,  such  is  Batara ; 
among  the  Dayaks,  Mahatara ;  in  Serawak,  Betara  ;  in  Bum, 
Lahatala;  among  the  Olongadju  on  Borneo,  Hatalla;  in 
Siau,  Duwata ;  among  the  Javanese,  Dewata  or  Djawata ; 
on  Nias,  Lowalangi ;  in  Halmahera,  Djohumadihutu  ;  among 
the  Toradja  in  Celebes,  Jlai  (man),  etc. 

The  Battaks,  like  many  Indian  peoples,  imagine  three 
worlds,  one  above  the  other.  The  upper  world,  with  seven 
stories,  is  the  seat  of  the  gods,  the  middle  world  the  abode 
of  men,  and  the  under  world  the  home  of  spirits  and  of  demons. 
The  life  of  the  gods  is  like  that  of  men  ;  they  have  wives  and 
children,  slaves  and  cattle  ;  they  play,  wage  war,  carry  on  law- 
suits, etc.  Human  souls  are  sent  down  from  a  kind  of  pre- 
existence  in  the  upper  world  to  the  middle  world  of  earth. 
Men  are  called  "gods  in  the  midst,"  i.e.  the  middle  world. 

Qmpu  Tuhan  Mula  djadi  is  regarded  as  the  creator. 
That  is  what  the  name  itself  means.  They  say  of  him :  he 
flattens  the  skull,  twines  the  bowels,  sets  agoing  the  heart, 
expands  the  liver,  opens  the  mouth,  makes  clear  the  eyes  of 
the  sons  of  men.  That  is  a  recognition  of  him  as  man's 
creator,  yet  in  the  consciousness  of  the  people,  and  in  spite  of 
myths,  that  belief  falls  into  the  background.  There  are  also 
legends  current  which  represent  man  as  born  now  from  an 
egg  hatched  by  a  fabulous  fowl,  now  from  a  mushroom,  and 
now  from  an  animal.  On  other  Indian  islands,  man  is 
supposed  to  have  sprung  from  a  woman  who  came  down  from 
heaven  and  was  impregnated  by  the  wind,  or  again  the  first 
man  grew  out  of  the  earth,  or  on  trees,  or  on  a  bamboo. 


30       THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

The  general  belief  in  the  Eastern  Islands  of  the  Archipelago  is 
that  men  have  sprung  from  nature,  while  that  of  the  myth- 
forming  Western  Islands  is  that  they  came  into  being  through 
a  creative  act  of  God.  This  latter  conception  underlies  the 
nature  myth  that  the  sun  as  male  principle  enters  into  union 
with  the  earth  as  female  principle,  and  from  that  union  man 
proceeds.1  Other  Indian  peoples  declare  that  God  formed 
the  first  human  pair  out  of  stone  and  that  the  wind  breathed 
life  into  the  stone  image  (Toradja),  some  say  again  that  God 
made  the  first  man  of  earth  (Halmahera). 

There  exists  a  long  Battak  narrative  about  the  creation  of 
the  world.  Si  Boru  parudjar,  daughter  of  Ompu  Tulian 
Mula  djadi,  was  one  day  in  company  with  her  younger  sister 
winding  yarn  in  the  upper  world.  The  yarn  was  soon  finished, 
but  the  ball  of  the  elder  despite  her  efforts  grew  no  larger 
than  an  egg.  In  her  vexation  she  let  it  fall ;  it  fell  down 
to  the  middle  world,  which  already  existed  in  a  state  of 
mud ;  she  held  still  the  end  of  the  thread  in  her  hand. 
Down  this  thread  she  herself  slid  to  the  middle  world,  where 
all  trace  of  her  was  lost  in  the  mud  and  water.  In  her 
distress  she  sent  the  swallow  Mandi  and  a  beetle  (messengers 
of  God)  to  her  father  praying  him  to  send  her  a  handful  of 
earth.  This  she  spread  out  upon  the  water,  thereby  creating 
the  earth,  and  there  she  took  up  her  abode.  Then  came 
Naga  Padoha,  a  fabulous  Dragon,  and  destroyed  the  newly- 
created  earth.  The  heavenly  virgin  created  the  earth  a  second 
time,  and  a  second  time  the  Dragon  destroyed  it.  At  her 
request  her  father  caused  the  earth  to  be  dried  up ;  she  then 
found  the  Dragon  and  outwitted  him.  Under  pretence  of 
clothing  him  with  ornaments  she  secretly  bound  him  so  that 
he  could  no  longer  move.  Once  more  she  created  a  new 
earth  which  subsisted.  According  to  another  variation  she 
thrust  a  sword,  up  to  the  hilt,  into  the  body  of  the  fettered 
Dragon.    When  he  sometimes  rolls  himself  about  he  produces 

1  We  come  upon  the  same  notion  among  the  Ewe.  The  masculine  sun 
marries  the  female  earth  (Spieth).  The  earth  is  called  "Our  Mother." 
She  is  the  heavenly  maid,  who  in  union  with  heaven  has  begotten  men, 
beasts,  and  plants,  nay  even  the  gods  of  earth  (Kruyt,  "  Animisme,"  p.  68). 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  31 

an  earthquake  and  men  cry  suhul  (i.e.  swordgripe),  that  they 
may  remind  him  of  his  captivity  and  helplessness.1 

The  creation  legend  is  transmitted  in  another  form  in  the 
southern  province  Angkola.  Batara  Guru,2  they  say,  once 
went  down  into  a  chasm  and  there,  on  the  horns  of  a  buck 
which  he  had  taken  with  him,  built  a  raft ;  on  this  he  spread 
out  the  earth.  He  caused  trees  to  grow  for  the  ravens  and 
swallows,  who  were  the  first  inhabitants  of  earth,  then  he 
created  the  sun  and  moon ;  finally,  he  created  men  out  of 
earth  which  had  been  brought  from  the  upper  world.  These 
men  he  animated  through  magic  formulas  and  gifted  them 
with  speech. 

Of  the  five  chief  gods  there  are  neither  pictures  nor 
symbols.  They  are  worshipped  neither  in  temples  nor  in 
holy  places.  They  do  not  even  traffic  with  men  through  any 
media.  Men  have  little  to  do  with  them,  and  their  names 
are  only  met  with  in  myths  and  prayers.  More  important 
for  religious  feeling,  because  nearer  to  men,  are  the  deities  of 
second  rank,  inferior  gods,  who  are  not  of  human  origin,  such 
as  ancestors,  who  are  yet  mainly  worshipped  though  not 
dependent  on  the  chief  gods.  They  are  more  feared  than  the 
gods  who  are  far  off  in  heaven;  and  they  are  more  needed  in 
the  village  and  in  the  field.  Hence  the  first  place  is  always 
given  them  in  the  sacrificial  prayers.  Several  of  them  are 
worshipped  through  media  or  symbols,  either  animals  or 
images.  In  them  are  embodied  powers  of  nature  which  bear 
more  directly  upon  the  welfare  of  men  than  those  nebulous 
gods.  Such  is  the  Debata  idup,  a  masculine  and  a  feminine 
deity ;  in  whom  is  worshipped  the  power  of  generation. 
This  deity  confers  the  blessing  of  children,  the  lack  of  which 
is  felt  by  uncivilised  man  to  be  the  greatest  misfortune.  He 
is  worshipped  in  the  form  of  two  wooden  images,  one 
masculine  the  other  feminine,  and  these  symbols  are  carried 
round  the  house  on  the  backs  of  the  married  pair  while  entreat- 

xTlie  Niassers  have  a  similar  legend  about  the  genesis  of  the  earth 
(Sundermann,  "Die  Insel  Nias  "). 

2  In  this  province,  which  is  more  subject  to  Malay  influence,  it  is  significant 
that  the  creator  of  the  world  is  not  Mula  djadi  but  Batara  Guru. 


32        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

ing  the  blessing  of  children.  Baras  pati  in  tano  is  a  kindly 
earth  god,  in  whom  is  personified  the  fruitful  power  of  the 
earth.  The  maturing  of  the  fruits  of  the  field  is  of  the 
greatest  importance  to  an  agricultural  people  ;  consequently 
this  deity  is  more  feared  and  worshipped  than  all  the 
heavenly  gods  put  together.  He  is  the  first  to  be  invoked 
in  all  sacrificial  prayers.  He  is  conceived  as  dwelling  on  the 
earth,  and  is  seen  embodied  in  the  house  lizard  whose  image 
is  very  often  found  in  houses.  Boru  Saniang  Naga  is  a 
female  water  spirit,  in  whom  is  worshipped  both  the  beneficent 
and  the  destructive  powers  of  water.  Boru  na  Mara  is  a 
spirit  of  the  air  who  causes  disease.  The  worship  of  such 
semi-deities  is  met  with  everywhere  in  Indonesia.  The 
powers  of  nature  that  are  worshipped  in  them  are  thought 
of  as  independent  of  the  Creator  of  the  world,  whose  power 
does  not  extend  to  the  matter  or  forces  of  the  world.  The 
water  deities,  the  Saniang  or  Sangiang,  are  specially  popular 
on  many  islands  of  the  Archipelago.  That  is  not  surprising 
among  islanders,  who  are  so  often  in  peril  of  water  and  who 
yet  owe  to  water  the  greater  part  of  their  means  of  living. 
In  addition  to  these  there  are  innumerable  local  deities  who 
owe  their  origin  to  the  fear  of  volcanoes,  whirlpools,  water 
falls,  and  such  strange  and  impressive  phenomena  of  nature. 
There  is  no  precise  distinction  between  these  local  nature 
deities  and  the  ancestors  who  are  supposed  to  dwell  in  such 
places.  There  is  also  a  worship  of  the  beneficent  and  the 
destructive  powers  of  nature  alongside  the  worship  of  the 
Creator,  but  with  no  inner  connection  between  them.  The 
significance  of  the  Creator  for  religious  feeling  has  fallen  into 
the  background.  The  mysterious  powers  of  nature  are  more 
considered  because  more  feared.  Their  worship  narrows  the 
religious  horizon.  To  the  Anhnist  what  threatens  most 
danger  demands  most  careful  service  and  propitiation. 

An  example  of  the  way  in  which  myths  originate  through 
fear  of  uncomprehended  natural  phenomena  is  given  by  a 
legend  current  among  the  Battaks  on  Samosir,  which  seeks 
to  explain  the  eclipse  of  the  sun  and  moon.  In  the  remote 
olden  times  the  sun  had  seven  sons,  all  of  whom  scorched  the 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  33 

earth  as  hotly  as  their  mother.     Men  could  not  endure  their 
heat,  and  in  their  distress  sent  the  swallow  to  the  moon, 
beseeching  him  to  come  and  help  them.     The  moon  agreed 
to  do  so,  but  required  of  men  a  promise  that  they  would  come 
to  his   help  against  the  sun  if  she   should  turn  in  enmity 
against  him.     Thereupon  the  moon  seized  all  his  children 
(the  stars)  and  concealed  them.    He  demanded  of  men  a  great 
quantity  of  betel  leaves,  of  lime,  and  all  other  material  of  siri- 
chewing ;  he  chewed  these  all  up,  and  collected  the  blood-red 
juice  in  seven  large  bowls.     Then  he  called  to  the  sun  and 
said :    I  have  slain   and  eaten  all  my  children,  do  you  kill 
and  slay  yours  also.     In  proof  of  his  statement  he  showed 
the  seven  bowls,  the  red  contents  of  which  looked  like  blood. 
The  sun  agreed,  caught  her  seven  sons,  slew  and  ate  them. 
But  the  moon  afterwards  set  his  children,  the  stars,  at  liberty. 
The  sun  saw  that  she  had  been  deceived,  and  waged  war  on 
the  moon  ;    she  gathered  hired  warriors,  spirits  of  the  air 
called  lau,  and  sent  them  against  the  moon.    An  eclipse  of  the 
moon  meant  that  the  sun's  warriors  were  pressing  the  moon 
hardly.     Then  men  were  under  obligation  to  help  the  moon 
by  crying  with  all  their  might :  Set  the  moon  at  liberty  again, 
you  warriors  of  the  sun.     Conversely  an  eclipse  of  the  sun 
takes  place  when  the  moon's  warriors,  who  were  called  laha, 
violently  assailed  the  sun.1 

We  have  seen  that  one  root  of  the  Battak  religion,  and  that 
the  weakest,  is  its  relation  to  mythological  deities.    A  second  - 
root,  the  most  vigorous  of  all,  is  the  fear  produced  by  the 
secret  uncomprehended  powers  of  nature.     There  is  a  third 
very  delicate  and  very  difficult  to  discover,  though  deeply-' 
imbedded  in  the  soul  of  the  people.     The  eye,  searching  in 
the  darkness,  perceives  the  outline  of  a  thought  of  some 

1  This  marvellous  myth  is  also  found  among  other  peoples.  Kruyt  speaks 
of  a  similar  legend  in  mid-Celebes.  Sundermann  likewise  says  that  the 
Niassers  speak  of  the  sun  having  slain  her  children.  It  is  striking  to  come 
upon  the  same  legend  in  the  Ewe  tribes  in  Togo,  though  without  any  reference 
to  the  eclipse  of  the  moon.  The  Santals  in  India  have  also  a  similar  myth. 
The  woman  "the  moon  "  persuades  the  man  "the  sun  "  to  eat  up  his  sons,  the 
day  stars,  by  maintaining  that  she  had  already  eaten  up  her  daughters,  the 
night  stars.  Because  of  this  deception  the  sun  is  to  this  hour  enrao-ed 
against  the  moon,  and  pursues  her  through  the  heavens. 
C 


34       THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

omnipotent  power  reigning  over  all  those  deities.  Among  the 
Battaks  this  is  reflected  in  the  general  name  Debata,  i.e.  god. 
He  is  called  simply  god,  also  lord  and  grandfather.  The 
idea  which  is  here  come  upon  of  a  supreme  God  is  very  vague, 
and  is  always  in  conflict  with  animistic  feeling.  All  these 
chief  gods  and  all  great  chiefs  are  called  Debata.  Great 
chiefs  are  to  their  subjects  the  highest  beings,  because  they 
are  most  to  be  feared.1  Everything  wonderful  and  worthy 
of  veneration — ancestors,  distinguished  men,  wild  beasts, 
striking  objects  of  a  higher  civilisation — is  called  grandfather. 
The  myths  about  the  deities  are  not  all  the  common  possession 
of  the  people,  but  however  dim  the  notions  about  them  are, 
the  heathen  Battak  divines  in  the  Debata  the  Lord  who 
reigns  over  the  universe  in  general  and  over  man  in  particular. 
To  Him  men  turn  instinctively  in  special  distress.  One  often 
hears  in  daily  life  expressions  such  as  "  everything  depends 
on  God,"  "we  are  in  God's  hands,"  "that  depends  on  God," 
"  as  God  grants,"  "  God  is  gracious."  There  are  beautiful 
proverbs  about  God — "  a  drop  of  dew  with  God's  blessing 
makes  a  feast,"  "what  God  does  man  must  not  change," 
"  God  rises  and  looks  down  upon  those  who  suffer  wrong,"  "  do 
not  follow  crooked  ways  for  riches  come  from  God,"  "God  is 
a  righteous  Judge,"  "wherever  we  sit  God  is  present."  God, 
not  Mula  djadi  or  any  other  god  of  mythology,  is  at  least 
divined  in  the  popular  consciousness  as  the  requiter  and 
guardian  of  right.2  Hence  the  oath,  which  appeals  to  God 
the  Judge,  is  held  sacred,  and  judgments  of  God  are  a 
dreaded  ultima  ratio  in  the  administration  of  justice.  The 
suspected  criminal,  for  example,  is  allowed  to  grasp  the  red 
hot  iron  or  dart  it  at  another.     Even  war  is  conceived  as 

1  In  Purba,  on  the  Sea  of  Tobo,  the  heathen  asked  a  Battak  evangelist : 
"  Is  there  really  then  a  Debata  besides  Tuan  Purba,"  the  head  chief.  The 
heathen  of  Uluan  said  to  Bruch  the  missionary  when  he  preached  to  them 
about  God,  "Thou  art  our  Debata."  The  Basuto  chief  Maleo  declared  to 
Griitzner,  the  missionary  :   "Who  is  God,  I  am  God." 

2  The  Niassers  also  have  beautiful  proverbs  about  God.  They  call  Him  the 
requiter  of  good  and  evil,  "it  rests  with  God,"  "God  kills  and  makes  alive," 
"  God  is  only  a  handbreadth  above  us."  For  all  that  they  have  no  fear  of 
God,  for  Lowalangi  is  a  good  spirit  whom  we  do  not  need  to  bring  into  a 
friendly  mood  by  sacrifice.      Fear  alone  impels  to  worship. 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  35 

a  judgment  of  God.  The  side  which  has  one  slain  first  is 
shown  by  God's  judgment  to  be  in  the  wrong.1  Hence  at 
the  beginning  of  every  battle  the  warriors  pray  to  God  that 
He  would  help  the  righteous  cause  to  conquer. 

The  above-named  deities  have  no  relation  whatever  to 
morality.  They  are  not  thought  of  in  those  moral  sayings 
and  legal  actions.  No  Battak,  of  course,  can  explain  why, 
in  many  situations  of  life,  he  passes  over  Batara  Guru  and  the 
other  gods,  and  feels  that  he  is  related  to  the  Debata.  That 
can  only  be  explained  by  assuming  that  there  is  in  the 
popular  consciousness  the  remains  of  a  purer  idea  of  God, 
alongside  and  above  the  recognition  of  a  plurality  of  gods, 
a  view  also  that  cannot  be  derived  from  those.  Belief  in 
God  had  been  reduced,  by  nature  worship,  fear  of  spirits  and 
moral  coarseness,  to  a  state  in  which  it  was  no  longer 
recognizable.  The  host  of  spirits,  born  of  fear,  thrust  them- 
selves between  God  and  man,  and  left  behind  that  faded 
image  of  God,  which  still  throws  a  faint  shadow  on  the 
feelings  of  the  people,  but  not  on  its  thought,  which  is  there- 
fore so  full  of  contradictions.  Without  that  assumption  we 
are  in  presence  of*  an  enigma.  Whence  comes  the  idea  of  a 
supreme  Deity  exalted  above  all  which  is  no  longer  under- 
stood by  the  heathen  of  to-day,  and  which  has  become  a  mere 
phrase  on  their  lips  ?  It  cannot  have  been  distilled  from  the 
motley  jumble  of  the  worship  of  gods  and  of  nature,  for  it 
exists  alongside  of  it,  and  that  not  in  the  form  of  a  thought 
victoriously  carried  out,  but  in  direct  opposition  to  it.  In  all 
the  religions  of  the  Indian  Archipelago,  and  probably  also  of 
Africa,  we  meet  with  the  idea  of  god  as  of  a  dimly  felt 
highest  court  of  appeal,  enthroned  above  all  the  gods  that 
are   known    and    named.2     He   is   not   worshipped ;    He  is 

1  We  find  this  appeal  to  the  judgment  of  God  even  among  the  Toradja  on 
Celebes.  "  The  aim  of  the  judgment  of  God  is  to  let  a  matter  be  determined 
by  the  gods."  Each  party  is  asked  to  thrust  a  lanee  into  the  earth,  and  that 
party  whose  spear  goes  deepest  has  won.  In  this  case  the  earth  deity  decides. 
Or  they  dive  under  water,  and  the  one  who  remains  longest  under  water  lias 
a  just  cause.     Here  the  water  deities  decide. 

2  Livingstone  has  somewhere  said,  There  is  no  need  to  speak  of  the 
existence  of  God,  or  of  a  future  life,  even  among  the  lowest  tribes,  for  these 
are  generally  accepted  truths  among  them. 


36        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

scarcely  even  feared ;  He  is  so  little  known  that  nothing  can 
be  said  about  Him,  save  that  one  occasionally  flees  to  Him. 
He  is  really  in  contradiction  with  the  form  in  which  those 
heathen  religions  appear  to-day.  The  realities  of  animistic 
heathenism  to-day  are  Polytheism  and  worship  of  spirits, 
together  with  the  fear  and  magic  which  accompany  them.1 
Nevertheless,  though  painted  over  with  colours  of  the 
loudest  tints,  the  delicate  outline  of  the  original  picture  has 
not  been  entirely  effaced. 

The  idea  of  God  is  dimly  preserved  ;  the  worship  of  God  is 
almost  entirely  lost.  A  man  stands  in  no  relation  to  the  far- 
off  gods,  and  needs  not  to  fear  them.  Consequently  he  has 
no  interest  in  having  any  communication  with  them ;  he  has 
little  sense  of  dependence  on  the  gods,  but  always  feels 
that  he  is  dependent  on  the  spirits  of  the  dead  (as  will  be 
shown  further  on).  The  common  man  hardly  knows  the 
names  of  the  gods.2  These  names  are  of  course  invoked  in 
the  sacrificial  prayers,  but  only  in  union  with  the  lower 
demons  and  ancestors.  The  spirits  are  always  the  first  to 
be  invoked.  The  heathen  are  afraid  to  pass  over  a  deity  in 
their  formulas  of  prayer  and  therefore  heap  name  upon  name. 
Prayer  with  them  is  not  a  question  of  Divine  worship  freely 
offered,  but  a  necessary  means  of  averting  a  calamity.  The 
angry  deity  must  be  appeased,  his  jealousy  averted,  his  ill 
will  set  aside.3  The  Battak  christians  use  a  word  for  prayer 
different  from  that  of  the  heathen,  knowing  well  that  the 
magical  formulas  of  the  heathen  cannot  be  called  prayer. 
Such  a  prayer  will  run  somewhat  as  follows  :  O,  grand- 
father Boras  pati  ni  tano,  who  dwellest  in  our  village,  help  us 

1  Sundermaim  testifies  of  the  Niassers  :  "  They  know  of  a  Supreme  Being, 
and  frequently  name  Him.  But  though  His  name  is  constantly  on  their  lips, 
and  the  highest  power  is  ascribed  to  Him,  there  is  hardly  any  real  veneration 
or  worship"  (Sundermann,  "Nias,"  p.  59). 

2  "  A  Toradja  is  perfectly  alive  to  the  idea  of  the  soul-stuff.  But  if  asked 
about  his  gods  and  spirits  he  may  repeat  something  he  has  casually  heard, 
but  will  generally  refer  the  questioner  to  his  priest  "  (Kruyt). 

3  The  heathen  (the  Hindu)  does  not  pray  to  him  in  the  usual  sense  of  the 
word,  but  attempts  to  conjure  or  constrain  him,  to  negotiate  with  him,  or  to 
flatter  him. 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  37 

in  front  and  defend  us  behind.1  Grandfathers,  you  three 
gods  in  the  uppermost  heights  in  the  highest  heaven,  on 
the  rolling  stone  supplied  with  steps.  Come  down,  grand- 
father, from  the  perforated  wood,  from  the  upper  gods 
to  the  lower  ( =  men).  Hear  us,  Grandfather  Boras  pati  ni 
tano.  Grandfather  Batara  Guru,  Batara  Guru  whom  we 
obey,  Batara  Guru  whom  we  consult,  Batara  Guru  on  whom 
we  all  depend.  Here,  grandfather,  is  your  sacrifice,  a  horse, 
a  fish,  a  siri.  Be  at  one  with  our  grandfather  Soripada,  Sori 
the  blameless,  Sori  whom  we  consult,  Sori  on  whom  we 
depend.  Here  is  your  sacrifice,  a  horse,  a  fish,  a  siri.  Be  at 
one  with  our  grandfather  Mangalabulan,  who  is  great  at  the 
beginning  and  great  at  the  end.  Here  is  your  sacrifice.  .  .  . 
Be  at  one  with  our  grandfather  Mula  djadi,  the  great  one  ; 
overshadow  us,  grandfather,  protect  us,  thou  who  art  the 
origin  of  things  created,  who  flattenest  the  skull,  openest  the 
ear,  settest  agoing  the  heart,  expandest  the  liver,  and  dividest 
the  fingers  from  each  other.  0,  god  Asiasi  2,  who  hast  sent 
us  into  the  world,  have  compassion  on  us.  0,  grandfathers, 
and  all  ye  who  are  worthy  of  veneration  (secondary  gods  and 
ancestors),  ye  who  are  round  about  on  the  mountains  and  the 
clouds.  Here  are  your  sacrifices.  ...  0,  Mother  Boru  na 
mora,  Boru  Saniangnaga,  here  are  your  sacrifices,  etc.  The 
following  prayer  shows  the  things  that  are  prayed  for  : 3 — 

Be  at  one  with  our  grandfather  the  great  god, 

Who  creates  the  body,  flattens  the  breast, 

Fixes  the  heart,  gives  strength  to  the  calf  of  the  leg, 

Makes  the  head  round  and  the  eye  clear, 

Who  makes  the  ear  to  hear.    .Thine  ear  hears, 

Thine  eye  is  clear.     To  guard  and  keep  us,  so  that  we  are  healthy 

and  well.     Grant  us  sons  who  shall  be  warlike, 
Men  of  counsel  and  champions. 
Grant  us  daughters  who  can  cook  a  great  pot, 
Who  are  clever  at  weaving. 

:The  power  of  earth  as  most  important  to  man  is  first  invoked,  not  the 
chief  gods. 

2  The  god  Asiasi  is  mentioned  only  incidentally  in  the  prayer  formulas,  and 
no  one  can  tell  anything  about  him. 

3  Spieth  says  of  the  Ewe  negroes  that  they  olfer  sacrifices,  and  pray  to  God 
directly,  but  still  more  do  they  pray  to  their  ancestors. 


38        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

The  stars  are  numerous,  the  clouds  gather  into  balls, 
So  let  our  sons  be  numerous  and  our  daughters  multiply. 

Prayers  are  offered  for  the  growth  of  the  crops  and  for  the 
stock  of  cattle,  for  health  and  victory,  and  numerous  descen- 
dants. Animistic  heathenism  knows  nothing  of  prayer  as  a 
free  outpouring  of  the  heart.1  Only  certain  persons,  such  as 
priests  and  chiefs,  can  commit  to  memory  the  traditional 
formulas.  The  chief  gods  are  never  invoked  in  the  prayers 
alone,  but  always  in  connection  with  and  after  the  semi- 
deities.  The  existence  of  such  nobly-sounding  prayers  must 
not  lead  us  to  infer  that  the  heathen  have  intercourse  with 
God,  and  pour  out  their  hearts  to  Him.  For  the  prayers  are 
not  in  the  first  instance  directed  to  Him,  but  to  the  ancestors 
and  earth  spirits  who  are  most  feared.  They  are  vain  repeti- 
tions of  fixed  formulas  with  which  the  ordinary  sacrifices  are 
presented.  They  are  only  uttered  at  great  festivals  of  the 
tribe,  or  in  cases  of  misfortune.  While  the  worship  of  spirits, 
which  we  shall  describe  later,  is  familiar  in  its  minutest  rami- 
fication to  every  one,  the  worship  of  the  gods  is  a  matter  for 
the  priests  or  the  tribal  chiefs.  Intercourse  with  the  gods  is 
thrown  on  them,  because  they  alone  have  the  necessary 
knowledge.  The  same  thing  is  seen  everywhere  in  the  Indian 
Archipelago.2 

Sacrifice  is  but  rarely  offered  to  the  gods.  Theanimal 
mostly  sacrificed  is  the  white  horse.  It  is  either  solemnly 
slaughtered  in  presence  of  the  whole  tribe,  in  which  case  the 
blood  is  regarded  as  an  offering,  or  it  is  devoted  to  God,  and 

1  A  heathen  priest  once  told  me  that  he  prayed  daily  for  his  son,  who  was 
in  Padang,  that  God  would  be  with  him.  But  when  I  mentioned  this  to  the 
christians  and  catechumens,  and  asked  them  if  that  was  formerly  the  custom, 
they  said  it  was  not;  and  if  the  statement  of  the  priest  was  true  his  prayers 
were  to  be  ascribed  to  the  influence  of  the  gospel  which  he  has  heard  here. 

2  Man  is  not  familiar  with  them  (the  gods)  because  their  nature  is  entirely 
different  from  his,  and  inconceivable  to  him.  He  cannot  therefore  simply 
address  or  invoke  them.  He  must  know  the  way  in  which  they  are  to  be 
approached.  Thus  originated  the  need  for  priests  and  priestesses  as  inter- 
mediaries between  spirits  and  men.  These  priests  must  have  a  highly- 
developed  doctrine  of  the  gods,  so  that  we  now  know  an  entire  system  of 
gods  and  spirits  among  uncivilised  men  (Kruyt,   "  Animisme,"  p.  462). 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  39 

then  allowed  to  live,  but  it  must  not  be  sold.     This  function 
of  dedication  is  performed  by  the  sacrificing  priest. 

The  heathen  in  certain  circumstances  do  not  shrink  from 
deceiving  the  gods.  They  offer  an  egg,  declaring  to  the  deity 
that  they  are  giving  him  a  white  buffalo.1  "Toradjas  and 
Minahassers  end  the  day  by  an  imitated  crowing  in  order  to 
mislead  the  gods  with  regard  to  the  duration  of  a  sacrificial 
festival."  The  Battaks,  when  they  cross  the  sea  and  pass 
the  dwelling-place  of  any  deity,  call  upon  him,  assuring  him 
that  the  buffalo  which  they  have  in  the  boat  is  only  a  goat.2 
They  are  not  even  ashamed  to  curse  God  when  things  do  not 
go  according  to  their  mind.  Many  old  legends  state  that 
men  declared  war  against  God  and  bombarded  Him  from 
a  mountain. 

They  believe  that  in  earlier  and  better  days  there  was  more 
intercourse  between  gods  and  men.  Heaven  was  then  nearer 
earth,  and  the  gods  could  be  reached  from  a  gigantic  rock  in 
the  province  of  Angkola,  till  men  maliciously  destroyed  it. 
Many  legends  tell  how  the  sons  of  men  found  the  way  into 
heaven,  and  had  communion  with  the  Supreme  God,  and  how 
daughters  of  the  gods  came  down  to  earth  and  contracted 
marriages  with  men.  According  to  another  narrative  (for 
every  province  has  a  different  tradition)  God  was  indignant 
because  men  had  ceased  to  worship  Him,  and  earth  stank  in 
His  nostrils.  He  destroyed  Mount  Tinggir  radja,  which  had 
hitherto  enabled  men  to  reach  the  gods,  and  removed  heaven 
far  away  from  earth  so  that  all  intercourse  between  God  and 
men  ceased.  Such  legends  presuppose  a  dim  remembrance 
of  happier  days  when  men  were  nearer  God. 

Belief  in  and  worship  of  God  and  the  gods,  as  above  des- 
cribed, falls  into  the  background  in  the  religious  life  of  the 
Battaks,  and  of  all  other  inhabitants  of  the  Indian  Archi- 
pelago.     They  touch  the  merest  fringe  of  their  religious  life. 

1  They  act  conversely  towards  men  from  courtesy.  They  present  a  fat  pig 
for  their  entertainment,  and  say  it  is  only  a  little  chicken. 

2  The  Niassers  act  similarly.  Instead  of  the  dog  that  is  due  they  sometimes 
offer  its  ears,  its  tail  and  hair,  which  are  buried  instead  of  the  animal.  The 
dog  is  at  the  same  time  led  through  the  grave. 


Jr> 


40       THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

The  little  that  one  can  learn  about  them  from  inquiry  is 
esoteric  wisdom,  and  has  little  influence  on  the  life  of  the 
people.  The  borderland  and  central  ground  is  filled  by 
something  else,  the  fear  of  lower  demons  and  of  spirits  of  the 
dead,  out  of  which  fear  springs  superstition  and  ancestor 
worship.  To  understand  aright  this  spirit  worship,  which 
puts  forth  the  most  wonderful  blossoms,  we  must  first  make 
ourselves  acquainted  with  the  soil  out  of  which  it  springs  up 
a  luxuriant  weed.  The  soil  is  Animism,  that  conception  of 
life,  so  strange  to  us,  which  places  the  soul,  the  soul-power, 
the  life-stuff,  in  the  centre  of  religious  interest. 

We  take  the  word  Animism  in  the  widest  sense  in  which  it 
is  used  by  the  modern  science  of  religion,  as  indicating  that 
view  of  the  world  which,  on  the  basis  of  primitive  notions  of 
the  soul,  leads  partly  to    animalism,   partly  to   anthropism 
(worship  of  the  dead,  ancestor  worship,  spiritism),  and  belief 
in  demons.       Wherever  spirits  are  worshipped,  Animism  is 
found  to  be  the  presupposition  of  spiritism.     The  Battak 
people  have  got  beyond   the   primitive   stage  of  Animism, 
though   they  plainly  exhibit   all   its  characteristic  features. 
Animism  is  in  some  sort  the  philosophy  of  the  uncivilised 
man,  in  virtue  of  which  he  constructs  for  himself  a  picture  of 
the  world  so  far  as  he  has  an  interest  in  it.     It  is  occupied 
with  the  soul  of  the  living  man  as  well  as  with  the  souls  of 
all  living  creatures,  organisms,  and  even  lifeless  objects,  to 
which  it  likewise  ascribes  a  soul,  or  to  speak  more  correctly 
soul-stun*.     This  soul-stuff  then  becomes  the  object  of  wor- 
ship]    From  a  universal  soul,  an  indestructible  store  of  life, 
living  souls  flow  to  men,  animals,  plants,  metals,  instruments, 
houses,   etc.      Whatever   participates    in    this    life-stuff  is 
valuable  and  desirable.     The  vital  question  for  the  Animist 
is   how   to   place   his   own    soul    in   relation    to    the   souls 
surrounding  him,  and   to   their   powers,    which    are   partly 
injurious  and  partly  useful,  with  as  little  danger  to  himself 
and  as  much  advantage  to  himself  as  possible.     What  must 
I  do  to  protect  and  enrich  my  soul  ?     That  is  the  cardinal 
question  of  the  animistic  catechism.      Animism  is  the  key 
to  an   understanding  of  ancestor   worship,   and  all  that  is 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  41 

commonly  called  heathen  superstition.  An  exact  acquain- 
tance with  it  is  indispensable  to  an  understanding  of 
heathenism,  because  it  is  found  all  over  the  earth,  and  seems 
to  be  the  foundation  of  spirit  worship  everywhere,  and  not 
only  among  the  peoples  of  the  Indian  Archipelago.1  We 
find  traces  of  it  in  almost  every  region  of  the  earth,  and 
every  student  of  religion  must  reckon  with  it.  The  study  of 
Animism  gives  a  surprising  insight  into  the  inner  life  and 
thought  of  primitive  peoples.  With  all  its  strangeness  this 
exotic  world  of  ideas  proves  that  even  the  "  savage  "  thinks, 
and  feels  the  need  of  a  reasoned  view  of  the  world. 

To  the  Animist  the  "  soul  "  is  something  entirely  different 
from  what  we  understand  it  to  be.  It  is  an  elixir  of  life,  a 
life-stuff,  which  is  found  everywhere  in  nature.  Man  has 
two  souls,  one  of  which,  the  bodily  soul,  pertains  to  him 
during  his  life-time.  It  is  a  power  outside  himself  condition- 
ing his  earthly  wellbeing,  but  does  not  essentially  belong  to 
his  person  ;  at  death  it  returns  to  the  animistic  storehouse. 
The  other  soul,  the  shadow  soul,  emerges  only  when  the  man 
dies.  It  is  the  shadowy  continuation  of  his  person,  the  part 
of  his  individuality  that  continues  to  live.  The  soul  of  the 
living  man  is  conceived  as  a  kind  of  life-stuff,  indestructible 
and  animating  alternately  this  man  and  that.2  Among 
peoples  of  a  lower  grade  the  soul-stuff  is  conceived  im- 
personally as  a  vital  power  which  at  the  death  of  its  present 
possessor,  passes  over  to  something  else,  man,  animal,  or 
plant.  Higher  developed  peoples  conceive  the  soul  as  a 
refined  body,  to  some  extent  an  alter  ego,  a  kind  of  man 
within  the  man.  But  this  soul  never  coincides  with  his 
person,  but  remains  outside  his  consciousness.     It  is  handed 

1  The  missionary,  A.  C.  Kruyt,  has  given  a  thoroughly  scientific  account  o' 
Animism  in  the  Indian  Archipelago,  the  study  of  which  cannot  be  too  highly 
commended  to  all  who  are  interested  in  the  subject  ("  Het  animisme  in  den 
Indischen  Archipel  "). 

2  Even  the  pantheistic  Hindu  has  a  materialistic  conception  of  the  soul. 
There  is  always  a  kind  of  spiritual  body  corresponding  to  the  material  one. 
The  I.  does  not  belong  to  the  soul,  but  is  an  attribute  of  the  bodily  life,  a 
materialistic  product.  There  is  no  organic  connection  between  the  pan- 
theistically  coloured  soul  and  the  materialistically  determined  individual. 
That  corporealises  the  personal  consciousness. 


42        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

over  to  man  at  his  conception  from  the  loan  office  of  nature. 
But  it  is  so  independent  and  incalculable  a  thing  that  it  may 
at  any  moment  leave_hiui_for  a  longer-eretr-slKffter-^ieriod,  as 
for  example  in  dreams,  or  when  it  is  frightened,  or  when  it 
thinks  itself  insulted. 

The  well-being  of  the  man  depends  upon  its  moods.  It 
can  be  nourished,  strengthened,  and  augmented  :  it  can  also 
be  weakened,  diminished,  and  enticed  away. 

This  idea  of  the  soul  as  an  independent  power,  in  and 
beside  the  man,  is  met  with  among  many  peoples  in  all  parts 
of  the  earth.  We  find  it  everywhere  in  the  Indian  Archipel- 
ago, among  the  Kols,  the  Karens,  and  elsewhere  in  the 
remote  parts  of  India,  in  Oceania  and  Africa,  and  among  the 
Bush  negroes  of  Suriname.1 

The  following  pages  will  furnish  numerous  proofs  of  the 
world-wide  sway  of  Animism.  It  is  extremely  instructive  to 
trace  its  diffusion  in  the  way  Wundt  has  done  in  his 
"Psychology  of  Peoples."  Many  a  wrong  conception  of 
religious  and  social  usage  is  thereby  corrected,  and  many  an 
obscure  custom  set  in  its  true  light.  Wundt  discloses  the 
continuity  of  animistic  usages  all  over  the  earth  so  far  as 
that  can  be  done  with  the  material  at  present  available.  It 
is  unquestionably  a  universal  law  of  religion  and  of  psycho- 
logy that  primitive  notions  of  the  soul  persist  most  tenaciously. 
Even  in  the  higher  religions,  and  in  the  heathenism  that  exists 
in  Christendom,  we  find  numerous  usages  of  animistic  origin. 
Buddhism,  Confucianism,  and  Mohammedanism  have  nowhere 
conquered  this  most  tenacious  of  all  forms  of  religion ;  they 
have  not  even  entered  into  conflict  with  it;  it  is  only  over- 
come by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ. 

The  soul  pervades  the  whole  body,  all  the  members  of 
which  are  sharers  of  the  soul-stuff,  and  therefore  have  a  life 
of  their  own,  a  feeling  of  their  own,  and  a  will  of  their  own. 

1  Of.  the  works  of  Sundermann  and  Lett  on  Nias ;  Jellinghaus  and  Rottrot 
on  the  Kols  and  Santals  ;  Kruyt,  Adriani,  and  Coolsmaon  Netherland  India  ; 
During  on  East  Africa  ;  Merensky  on  South  Africa  ;  Irle  on  the  Hereros  ; 
Spieth  on  the  Ewe  ;  Eppler  on  Madagascar  and  the  Karens  ;  Kunze  on  New 
Guinea;  Rosier  on  the  Shambala  ;  Schneider  on  Suriname;  Wundt,  "  Vol- 
kerpsychologie,"  Band  II.,  etc. 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  43 

It  is  not  the  man  who  sees  and  hears  and  walks  and  breathes, 
but  the  eye  sees,  the  ear  hears,  the  foot  walks,  and  the  mouth 
breathes.  It  is  not  the  man  who  feels  pain,  but  the  part  of  the 
body  where  the  pain  is  located.  If  the  soul-stuff  is  removed 
from  a  member  it  feels  pain  and  becomes  ill.1  In  man  and 
beast  this  soul-stuff  is  found  specially  abundant  in  the  head. 
Hence,  in  the  division  of  food,  the  head  of  the  slaughtered 
animal  is  always  allotted  to  the  chief.  Head-hunting  has 
its  root  in  this  idea.  The  vital  power  and  courage  of  the 
dead  man  is  appropriated  by  him  who  possesses  his  skull.2 
Medicine  and  magic  are  made  out  of  human  heads.  The 
soul  power  is  also  found  concentrated  in  the  intestines,  in 
the  liver,  and,  therefore,  in  sacrifice  the  liver  of  the  animal 
is  offered.3  In  India  the  liver  is  regarded  as  the  seat  of 
feeling.  They  say,  "  my  liver  is  in  good  condition,"  that  is, 
I  am  in  a  pleasant  state  of  feeling,  or  "  my  liver  is  hot,"  that 
is,  my  wrath  is  rising,  etc.  There  is  much  soul-stuff  in  the 
blood,  for  life  ebbs  away  with  the  blood.  Hence,  in  the 
sacrifices  that  are  offered  to  God,  blood  is  an  element.  It  is 
smeared  on  the  beams  of  a  house  that  is  to  be  consecrated,  that 
happiness  and  vital  power  may  dwell  there.  If  any  one  obtains 
some  of  another's  blood,  he  thereby  gains  power  over  him. 
Strength  is  imparted  by  drinking  the  blood  of  the  slain  foe.4 
In  Nias  the  carved  images  of  ancestors  are  smeared  with 

1  The  Mentawey  islanders  say,  The  Regat  has  gone  from  the  part  of  the 
body  that  is  pained. 

2  Head-hunting  is  found,  for  example,  on  Nias,  Celebes,  Borneo,  among 
the  Papuans,  formerly,  [probably,  in  the  whole  Indian  Archipelago.  On 
Solomon  Islands  and  also  among  the  original  inhabitants  of  Formosa,  who 
hunt  for  Chinese  heads.  Dr  Adriani  explains  that  head-snatching  among  the 
Toradja  on  Celebes  was  once  a  human  sacrifice  to  the  dead  lest  they  should 
drag  a  member  of  the  tribe  to  the  kingdom  of  the  dead.  But  in  bringing 
home  the  skull  of  an  enemy  one  also  brings  long  life,  health,  and  healing  of 
disease,  to  his  own  tribe.  For  the  same  reason  in  Borneo  and  .Sumatra 
human  skulls  are  buried  under  the  posts  of  a  house  at  its  erection.  On 
Mentawey  a  man  must  be  slain  at  the  building  of  a  house.  Among  the 
Basutos  the  village  is  protected  from  spirits  by  burying  a  human  head 
beneath  the  door-posts.  Among  many  peoples  also  a  fresh  human  head  is 
put  under  the  foundations  of  a  bridge. 

3  Cf.  the  offering  of  entrails  among  the  ancients. 

4  Kruyt,  "  Animisme,"  p.  56  f. 


44       THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

blood,  which  gives  soul  to  the  dead  wood.  Soul-stuff  is 
ascribed  to  the  placenta.  There  is  a  mysterious  connection 
between  it  and  the  child,  its  "  elder  brother,"  all  through 
life.  Its  function,  after  being  solemnly  buried,  is  to  warn 
men  in  certain  circumstances  of  impending  evil.  It  is 
largely  used  as  a  charm.  The  decayed  piece  of  umbilical 
cord  is  carefully  preserved.  The  hair  also  contains  much 
soul  power,  and  is  therefore  not  cut  by  the  heathen.1  A 
mother  rubs  her  sick  child  with  her  hair  (hair  magic,  Nias). 
The  Toradja  nail  hairy  human  scalps  to  the  cocoanut 
trees,  in  order  to  make  them  fruitful  by  their  soul  power. '-' 
Hair  is  used  as  medicine.  Betrothed  couples  exchange  part 
of  their  hair  in  order  to  add  power  to  each  other's  soul. 
All  hair  cut  off  is  hidden  or  buried  by  its  owner  to  prevent 
its  getting  into  the  hands  of  an  enemy,  who  might,  by 
burning  it,  seriously  imperil  his  life.  For  there  is  a  bodily 
connection  between  a  man  and  the  hair,  as  well  as  any 
other  portions  or  secretions  of  his  body  that  he  has  parted 
with.  Much  uncanny  sorcery  is  based  on  this  animistic 
notion.  It  is  supposed  that  you  can  injure  the  whole  man 
by  getting  into  your  power  an  animated  part  of  his  body. 

The  nails  also  are  regarded  as  a  seat  of  soul-stuff.  Hair 
and  nails  are  looked  on  as  containing  soul  in  surpassing 
measure,  because  they  are  constantly  growing,  a  proof  of 
their  indestructible  soul  power.  And  therefore  they  are 
careful  to  prevent  others  from  getting  possession  of  the 
cuttings  of  their  nails.  No  one  will  cut  his  nails  after  sunset, 
because  then  evil  spirits  are  swarming  around,  who  might  get 

1  The  Battaks  cut  their  long  hair  when  they  become  catechumens.  Reitze, 
the  missionary  at  Si  Gaol,  on  the  sea  ol  Toba,  tells  how  a  chief,  who  desired 
to  be  a  christian,  allowed  a  Battak  teacher  to  cut  his  hair.  At  the  first  cut 
of  the  scissors  he  exclaimed  in  terror  :  "  Lord  Jesus,  let  me  remain  in  health." 
Any  one  who  ventures  to  cut  his  hair  shows  that  he  is  earnest  in  his  purpose 
to  give  up  heathenism.  A  Battak  heathen,  convinced  by  the  power  of  God, 
and  desiring  to  become  a  candidate  for  baptism,  prayed  the  Christian  teacher 
to  cut  off  his  long  hair,  for  if  another  did  so  he  would  die.  An  old  heathen 
in  Uluan  earnestly  entreated  that  his  "sanctuary,"  his  loug  hair,  might  not 
be  cut  olf,  which  would  be  his  death. 

2  May  not  the  scalpdmnting  of  the  Indians  be  traced  back  to  the  same 
animistic  root. 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  45 

hold  of  the  cuttings  and  thereby  gain  power  over  him.  Saliva 
is  medicinal,  because  it  contains  soul  power,  and  is  frequently 
spread  upon  the  sick.  Those  who  offer  sacrifices  spit  upon 
the  offering  in  order  to  add  to  it  a  part  of  themselves. 
Expectorated  saliva  must  not  be  allowed  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  an  enemy.1  Soul-stuff  is  also  found  in  the  teeth. 
Perhaps  the  widespread  custom  of  filing  the  teeth  meant 
originally  an  offering  to  ancestors,  in  which  one  gave  up  part 
of  one's  strength  to  preserve  the  rest.  The  sweat  also,  as  a 
secretion  of  the  body,  contains  soul-stuff,  and  so  far  as  it 
communicates  itself  to  the  clothes,  these  become  saturated 
with  soul-stuff.  The  water  that  has  washed  great  men  is 
regarded  as  lucky,  because  it  contains  their  sweat.  Foot- 
prints can  be  bewitched  by  means  of  the  sweat  that  adheres 
to  them.2  Dew,  as  the  sweat  of  the  earth,  promotes  health. 
Finally,  human  soul-stuff  is  found  in  tears,  in  urine,  and  in 
excrement.  Urine,  therefore,  is  used  as  medicine,  and  also, 
in  Loba,  as  an  antidote  to  dreams  of  evil  purport. 

A  shadow  is  supposed  to  be  some  shadowy  soul-stuff. 
The  souls  of  the  dead  cast  no  shadow,  because  they  no  longer 
participate  in  the  soul-stuff.  Hence  the  shadow  is  regarded 
as  a  projection  of  the  soul  of  the  living.  It  is  therefore  for- 
bidden to  walk  on  anyone's  shadow  or  to  beat  it.  The  shadow 
of  man  must  not  fall  on  a  grave  or  a  place  where  evil  spirits 
dwell,  otherwise  the  spirits  will  get  the  owner  into  their 
power.  A  man  must  not  let  his  shadow  fall  on  other 
people's  food,  else  the  eater  will  appropriate  with  his  food  the 
man's  soul  power,  and  he  will  pine  away.3 

1  Helmich,  the  missionary,  writes  from  New  Guinea :  "All  fragments  of 
food,  the  husks  of  betel  nuts,  and  cigar  ends,  are  either  entirely  removed  and 
destroyed  or  carefully  hidden  from  the  stranger  in  a  purse  which  they 
always  carry  with  them,  lest  any  one  should  make  nais  pau,  bad  magic." 
Kunze  says  that  the  Papuans  carefully  preserve  fragments  of  tobacco,  parings 
of  their  finger  nails  and  hair,  and  even  cast-off  bandages,  because,  in  virtue 
of  the  soul-stuff  adhering  to  them,  they  may,  in  the  hands  of  an  enemy, 
become  the  means  of  practising  evil  magic. 

2  Battak  christians  assure  us  that  heathen  magicians  can  bewitch  the 
footprints  of  an  unknown  thief.     The  thief  would  then  become  a  leper  or  die. 

3  The  Washamba  in  East  Africa,  like  many  uncivilised  men,  are  afraid  of 
the  photographer.     They  think  the  missionary,  in  taking  their  photograph, 


i 

;/ 


46        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

A  man's  name  is  closely  connected  with  his  soul.  It  is 
therefore  holy,  and  should  not  be  named  except  when 
necessary.  No  one  should  utter  his  own  name,  or  that  of  his 
parents.  If  one  knows  the  name  of  any  one,  he  thereby  obtains 
a  certain  power  over  him.  Very  important  is  the  right  name, 
which  must  be  adequate  to  the  soul.  The  name  of  a  sick 
person  is  sometimes  changed,  in  the  hope  that  the  escaped 
soul  may  return,  attracted  by  the  better  name.  If  any  one 
increases  in  riches  or  honour  he  adopts  a  new  name,  con- 
formable to  his  changed  condition,  on  which  occasion  a  great 
feast  is  held.1  It  is  very  important  that  children  should  get 
the  right  name,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  magic  priest  to  put 
them  on  the  right  scent.  The  names  of  betrothed  persons 
must  also  match.  Sometimes  hateful  names  are  oriven  to 
children  to  make  the  envious  spirits  believe  that  the  children 
are  inferior.  Names  of  dangerous  animals,  like  tigers  and 
crocodiles,  are  not  expressed,  but  are  euphemistically  para- 
phrased— Tiger,  Prince  of  the  forest. 

In  dreams  the  soul  leaves  the  man  and  wanders  about, 
actually  experiencing  the  things  dreamed  of.  Hence  dreams 
as  realities  are  highly  valued,  and  so  are  the  interpretation  of 
dreams.     The  soul  of  the  sleeper  in  his  dream  is    having 

robs  them  of  their  shadow,  and  therewith  of  their  soul,  which  he  sends 
to  Europe  to  serve  the  white  man,  and  the  owner  of  the  lost  shadow  must 
die.  In  the  pictures  of  their  relatives  which  the  missionaries  had  hung  up  in 
their  rooms  the  Washamba  saw  the  shadows,  i.e.  the  souls  of  these  relatives. 
They  thought  the  missionaries  had  brought  their  relatives  with  them, 
and  that  at  night  the  pictures  became  alive  and  conversed  with  the 
white  men.  Hence  they  were  afraid  to  be  alone  in  the  missionary's 
room  ;  the  pictures  might  become  alive  and  get  loose  on  them.  The 
Ewe  imagine  the  soul  of  man  to  be  visible  in  his  shadow.  The  Papuans  also 
see  in  the  shadow  the  soul  of  the  man  becoming  visible. 

1  In  every  important  event  the  Battaks  feel  the  need  of  adopting  a 
new  name  which  will  do  justice  to  the  new  situation.  If  a  child  is  born  into  a 
family  which  resembles  some  dead  member  of  the  family  they  say  the  dead 
man  has  reappeared  in  the  child,  and  the  name  of  the  dead  man  is  therefore 
given  to  the  child.  If  an  infant  cries  much,  that  is  a  sign  that  it  has  not  got 
the  right  name.  The  Ewe  have  similar  views  about  names.  The  fear  of 
names,  as  of  the  soul  in  some  sort  become  audible,  is  found  among  all 
the  peoples  of  Indonesia,  even  among  the  Papuans. 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  47 

intercourse  with  the  dead,  especially  with  his  ancestors.1 
Nothing  is  undertaken  except  they  dream  of  it  beforehand. 
The  character  of  the  expected  child  is  announced  by  dreams 
to  the  parents,  for  the  soul  of  the  child  in  its  mother's  womb 
has  intercourse  with  the  mother's  soul.  Mutual  dreams  must 
show  whether  the  souls  of  betrothed  persons  agree.  A  dream 
precedes  the  inspection  of  the  intended.  The  matchmaker 
produces  dreams  respecting  the  chosen  one  by  hiding  under 
the  lover's  pillow  some  of  her  hair,  or  a  girdle,  or  something 
which  has  been  in  contact  with  her,  and  so  received 
something  of  her  soul-stuff.2  The  watchers  of  a  corpse  must 
not  sleep,  else  their  souls  wandering  about  in  dreams  may 
easily  be  enticed  away  by  the  spirit  of  the  dead,  which 
is  near  at  hand.  If  the  soul  is  frightened  in  a  dream  it 
remains  in  the  place  where  it  was  startled,  and  the  man 
becomes  ill  and  dies.  It  is  therefore  strictly  forbidden  to 
waken  a  sleeper  roughly,  or  to  frighten  him.  One  must  not 
step  over  a  sleeper,  for  the  soul  might  be  on  the  point  of 
returning,  and  would  then  be  scared  away. 

The  soul  does  not  hesitate  to  leave  men  if  anything 
displeases  it,  for  it  does  not  essentially  belong  to  them, 
and  has  no  interest  in  the  maintenance  of  its  temporary 
dwelling.  Hence  caution  must  be  used  in  chastising 
children.  Give  them  rather  their  own  way,  lest  the  sensitive 
little  souls  leave  them  and  they  die.  The  soul  in  the  shape 
of  an  animal,  a  mouse,  a  lizard,  etc.,  escapes  by  the  nose,  the 
ears,  the  mouth,  or  by  any  opening,  often  to  the  terror  of  an 
involuntary  spectator. 

The  destiny  of  human  souls  is  fixed  before  birth.     Those! 
destined  for  men  are,  before  their  time  on  earth,  collected  by 
Batara  Guru  or  Mula  djadi  in  the  upper  world.      There  a  great 
tree  grows  with  many  leaves  on  which  the  different  destinies 

1  The  Niassers,  and  all  peoples  of  the  Indian  Arehipebgo,  have  the  same 
notions  about  dreams.  It  is  so  with  the  Papuans  and  with  the  Karens. 
The  Ewe  also  believe  that  the  soul  leaves  man  in  sleep  and  wanders  about. 
A  dream  is  to  them  an  experience  of  a  real  event.  The  soul  in  the  dream  is 
having  intercourse  with  the  shadows  of  the  dead. 

2  Among  the  Niassers  the  bride-seeker  only  ventures  to  come  forward  with 
his  proposal  after  a  favourable  dream. 


48        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

of  men  are  inscribed.      The  soul  is  then  allowed  to  pluck  off 
its  lot- determining  leaf.    The  subject  is  presented  in  a  different 
garb  in  different  legends,  but  they  all  agree  in  this,  that  man 
himself  chooses  his  own  fate,  and  that  this   is  irreversibly 
fixed.1     This  fatalism  dominates  the  thought  of  the  Battaks, 
fetters  their  will,  and  kills  all  energy.      They  bow  with  calm 
resignation  to  the  blows  of  fate,  which  are  fore-ordained  and 
unalterable,  which  even  throw  their  shadows  on  the  life  after 
death,  for  that  is  only  a  continuation  of  the   lot   chosen 
for  earth.      Man  is  not  responsible  for  his  disposition  or  his 
actions,  for  these  are  determined  for  him.     A  change  of  mind 
can  only  take  place  if  that  has  been  foreseen  in  his  destined 
lot.      This    determinism,    however    much    it    agrees    with 
Mohammedan  fatalism,  is  not  an  imported  article,  but  an 
original    possession    of    heathenism.     It    is    found    among 
heathen  peoples  who  have  never  had  any  sympathy   with 
Islam.     The  probability  is  that  Islam  has  taken  over  fatalism 
and   many   other   ideas   from   heathenism.      No  doubt  the 
propaganda  of  Islam  finds  in  this  kindred  conviction  of  the 
Animist  an  advantage  that  is  not  to  be  undervalued.     The 
Battak  calls  his  destiny  "  that  which  his  soul  has  asked  for." 
On  it  depends  man's  well-being.     The  question  is  whether 
the  soul  will  accept  the  good  that  comes  to  it.      If  any  one 
loses  a  lucky  chance  he  says,  "  my  soul  has  not  accepted  it." 
If  things  go   well   with  him  he  has  to  thank  his  soul  for 
it.      The  wishes  of  a  person  by  no  means  always  agree  with 
those  of  his  soul,  but  where  they  differ  it  is  the  wish  of  the 
soul  that  is  realised,  for  against  it  man  is  powerless.      The 
soul  is  a  power  outside  and  above  man,  though  not  identical 
with  fate,  against  which  his  attitude  is  mostly  submissive 
though  sometimes  defiant. 

Whilst  the  soul  is  represented  as  life  stuff  that  stuff  is  also 
ascribed  to  animals  and  plants.  Soul  stuff  is  certainly  not 
so  abundant  in  animals  as  in  man.  Animals  and  plants  are 
a  lower  grade  of  animated  life.     Many  animals  are  supposed 

1  See  J.  Warneck,  A.M.Z.,  1904,  p.  4,  f.,  for  some  of  the  legends  that  deal 
with  this  point.  There  are  similar  legends  among  the  people  of  Nias.  More 
will  be  said  on  this  subject  later. 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  49 

to  have  descended  from  man,  the  apes  for  example,  and 
conversely  men  from  animals.  Women  bring  forth  animals, 
such  as  lizards  and  serpents.  Men  sometimes  get  the  form 
of  an  animal  whose  flesh  they  have  eaten.  Ancestors  some- 
times appear  in  the  shape  of  animals.  According  to  animistic 
notions  men  and  animals  are  not  far  apart.  Hence  the 
number  of  fables  current  among  the  Battaks  in  which  animals 
appear  speaking,  thinking,  moralising,  and  associating  with 
men  as  their  equals. 

Those  plants  also  which  are  most  useful  to  men  contain 
soul  stuff.  The  draca3na  is  used  everywhere  in  the  Indian 
Archipelago  for  purposes,  of  worship  because  it  is  supposed 
to  be  strongly  animated.  A  personal  soul  is  ascribed  to  rice. 
It  is  treated  with  indulgence  as  a  living  being,  and"  definite 
rites  and  prohibitions  are  anxiously  observed  in  planting, 
weeding,  reaping,  treading  out,  beating,  cooking  and  eating 
it,  that  its  soul  may  not  escape,  and  it  becomes  powerless  and 
unfit  for  sustenance.  The  cocoa  nut  tree  and  the  sugar  palm 
contain  soul  stuff.  The  latter  is  said  to  have  grown  from 
the  body  of  a  woman,  and  its  palm  wine  is  her  mother's  milk, 
or,  according  to  another  account,  her  tears.  In  searching  for 
camphor  they  use  a  secret  speech  to  deceive  the  soul  of  the 
camphor  tree.   The  souls  of  such  useful  plants  are  worshipped.1 

Objects  also  which  are  of  value  to  men  are  thought  to  be 
animated,  for  their  usefulness  leads  to  the  inference  that  they 
possess  soul  stuff.  Soul  is  awarded  to  the  house,  the  hearth, 
the  boat,  the  hatchet,  the  iron,  and  many  other  instruments, 
not  because  they  are  fetiches,  but  because  their  usefulness  is 
proof  of  their  soul  power.  Among  the  Mentawey  islanders 
every  object  has  its  soul  (Regat).  When  a  tumble-down 
house  fell  in,  the  blame  was  not  supposed  to  be  the  laziness 
of  the  owner  neglecting  to  repair  it,  but  the  soul  of  the  house 
had  fled  and  must  be  solemnly  brought  back.2 

1  When  a  Karaba  desires  to  get  wood  from  a  tree  for  medicine  he  prays  thus 
to  the  sold  of  the  tree  :  0  tree,  I  come  to  thee  to  ask  a  gift.  I  have  a  sick 
friend  and  know  not  what  has  made  him  sick.  I  come  hither  to  thee,  0  tree, 
that  I  may  get  something  with  which  to  treat  him  that  he  may  be  healed. 

2  Among  the  Ewe,  the  weaver  prays  to  his  loom,  uhe  huntsman  to  his  gun, 

D 


50       THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

The  souls  of  men,  animals,  plants,  and  even  those  of  life- 
less things  influence  one  another.  One  can  augment  or 
invigorate  one's  own  soul  stuff  through  that  of  others,  and 
can  also  partly  or  entirely  lose  it  to  another  soul  owner. 

The  life  of  the  body  is  entirely  dependent  on  the  greater 
or  less  amount  of  its  soul    stuff.     The   important   thing  in 
eating  and  drinking  is  not  so  much  the  matter  of  the  food  as 
its  soul  stuff,  for  this  alone  gives  health  and  strength  to  the 
eater.     No  animistic  heathen,  therefore,  expects  the  gods,  or 
spirits,  to  consume  the  material  of  the  food  which  he  places 
before  them   as  an  offering,   but  only  its   soul   stuff.     The 
matter  that  remains  is  deprived  of  its  power  of  nourishment, 
and  consequently  is  of  no  value  to  men.     The  flesh  of  an 
animal  that  is  eaten  produces  an  effect  on  man  corresponding 
to  the  qualities  of  the  animal  in  question.     A  dog  is  lively 
and  courageous,  and  therefore  the  eating  of  dogs'  flesh  must 
produce  liveliness  and  courage.     The  flesh  of  a  stag  gives 
nimbleness.     Gamecocks   are   made   to  devour  centipeds  in 
order  to  assimilate  their  fierceness.     Javanese  thieves  carry 
with  them  crow  bones  to  be  as  clever  at  stealing  as  crows. 
The  numerous  prohibitions  as  to  food  in  sickness  are  rooted 
in  this  idea.     Certain  foods  in  some  circumstances  drive  the 
soul  out  of  the  body,  and  these  must  be  avoided     When 
heathen  people  come  to  the  missionary  for  medicine  they 
never  fail  to  ask  what  food  the  sick  man  is  forbidden  to  take. 
I  For  the  missionary,  who  is  regarded  as  a  magician,  must 
know  the  kind  of  food  to  which  the  soul  has  an  aversion  at 
the  time.     The  food  that  a  pregnant  woman  desires,  however 
absurd  it  be,  must  be  given  her,  for  the  soul  of  the  child 
requires  it  for  its  growth.     If  anyone  has  been  bitten  by  a 
poisonous  animal,  the  animal  is  killed  and  its  flesh  eaten  by 
him  who  was  bitten  in  order  to  make  the  bite  harmless,  for 
the  soul  of  the  poisojuous  animal,  which  is  thereby  appropriated, 
is  immune  against  its  own  poison.     Conversely,  the  soul  stuff 
contained  in  human  hair  has  the  power  of  promoting  the 
growth  of  trees  and  of  useful  plants. 

the  smith  to  his  hammer  and  anvil,  the  joiner  to  his  saw  and  plane.     The 
Karens  ascribe  a  soul  to  most  things,  to  rice  for  example. 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  51 

This  notion  throws  light  on  the  enigmatic  custom  of 
cannibalism,  which  we  meet  with  in  India,  among  the 
Battaks,  Dayaks,  Alfurus,  Papuans  and  on  the  Bismarck 
Archipelago.  It  is  not,  at  least  originally,  an  act  of  foaming 
revenge  and  does  not  even  spring  from  a  perversion  of  taste. 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  supposed  that  in  eating  a  man's  flesh 
the  eater  appropriates  the  other's  soul,  his  vital  power,  and 
this  is  most  effectively  done  while  the  victim  is  alive,  for  if 
the  body  be  cold  the  soul  has  fled.1  The  liver,  the  palms  of 
the  hands,  the  sinews  and  the  flesh  of  the  head  are  eaten  by 
preference,  for  these  are  the  parts  of  the  body  in  which  the 
soul  stuff  is  supposed  to  be  specially  concentrated.  It  is 
assumed  that  an  enemy  wounded  in  battle  or  a  great  criminal, 
such  as  an  adulterer — these  are  devoured — must  be  a  man  of 
power  and  daring,  whose  soul  stuff  is  therefore  of  value  to 
warriors.  He  who  eats  the  palms  of  the  hand  obtaiHs 
strength  of  .hand,  etc.  The  habit  of  drinking  blood  is  wide- 
spread, and  should  be  judged  in  precisely  the  same  way  as 
cannibalism,2  for  the  soul  stuff  has  special  vigour  in  the 
blood.  Among  many  peoples  the  blood  of  an  enemy  just 
slain  is  drunk. 

There  are  also  objects  which,  in  themselves,  have  no  soul 
matter,  but,  for  some  reason,  have  such  matter  ascribed  to 
them.  Some  peculiarly  formed  root,  or  some  wonderful 
stone,  is  seen,  and  its  striking  shape  is  supposed  to  indicate 
an  indwelling  soul  power.  That  makes  the  object  of  great 
value  to  the  Animist,  for  he  can  use  it  for  his  own  o-0od 
viz.,  for  the  strengthening  of  his  own  soul  power.  Such 
objects  may  be  called  fetiches.  Idols  as  fetiches  are  un- 
known to  the  Indonesian.  Wherever  we  come  upon  stone 
or  wooden  images,  protective  or  ancestor  images,  they  have 
religions  value  only  so   far  as  they  are  artificially  supplied 

1  No  one  among  the  Battaks  enjoys  the  eating  of  human  flesh.  On  the 
contrary,  the  cannibals  have  often  to  fight  with  nausea,  and  they  are  in  the 
habit  of  mixing  the  human  with  other  flesh. 

2  In  Toba  we  were  told  that  a  chief  cut  open  the  breast  of  a  captured  enemy, 
tore  out  the  quivering  heart  and  drank  the  warm  blood— not  certainly  for  its 
pleasant  taste,  though  the  satisfaction  of  revenge  may  have  had  a  place 
there. 


52        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  OOSPEL 

with  soul  stuff.  But  an  object  thus  supplied  with  soul  is 
not  worshipped,  for  it  is  not  the  abode  of  a  deity  or  an 
ancestor.  It  is,  however,  attended  to,  fed  and  smeared  with 
blood  or  rice,  that  the  soul  stuff  dwelling  in  it  may  not  be 
diminished,  but  may  always  retain  its  utility  to  its  possessor. 
Thunderbolts,  marvellous  pieces  of  metal,  stalactites,  and 
such  like  things,  are  reputed  to  have  special  soul  stuff,  and 
are  used  as  fetiches.  In  this  sense  amulets  are  fetiches. 
They  are  mostly  stones,  scraps  of  lead,  and  things  of  extra- 
ordinary formation  ;  these  are  carried  about,  and  credited 
with  the  power  of  increasing  their  possessor's  soul  stuff,  and 
protecting  him  against  evil  spirits.1 

The  souls  of  men  have  a  mutual  relation  to  each  other. 
The  influence  which  one  person  exerts  on  another  must  be 
traced  to  their  mysterious  soul  powers.  The  soul  of  the 
mother  must  watch  over  that  of  the  child  that  is  in  her 
womb.  If  an  abortion  takes  place  the  soul  of  the  mother 
has  failed  in  its  duty,  and  the  soul  of  the  child  has  flown 
away  while  it  was  inattentive.  The  woman  was  perhaps 
much  depressed,  and,  in  her  grief,  her  soul  neglected  to 
watch  over  the  soul  of  the  child.  The  consequence  is,  an 
untimely  birth,  that  is,  the  soul  of  the  unguarded  child  has 
escaped.  If  a  woman  dies  in  giving  birth  to  a  child,  it 
is  a  sign  that  the  soul  of  the  mother  refuses  to  accept  a 
child.  This,  therefore,  is  a  death  that  is  regarded  as  ex- 
tremely disgraceful.  The  corpse  of  the  woman  is  thrown 
beneath  the  house  and  there  buried,  after  its  eyes,  ears  and 
mouth  have  been  stuffed  with  ashes.  If  any  misfortune 
happens  to  the  child  the  blame  is  again  laid  on  the  soul  of 
the  mother.  If  a  child  becomes  ill,  an  offering  is  brought 
to  the  soul  of  the  mother  that  it  may  not  abandon  the  soul 
of  the  child.  The  souls  also  of  relatives,  on  the  mother's 
side,  have  great  influence  on  the  soul  of  the  child,  and  must 

1  The  Battaks  call  everything  that  impresses  them  by  its  strangeness, 
greatness,  or  mysterious  power  "  grandfather,"  a  burning  glass,  for  example, 
whose  powers  they  do  not  understand,  a  watch,  and  the  like.  Happy  is  the 
possessor  of  such  a  wonderful  object  for  the  soul  power  it  reveals  may  be  of 
the  greatest  service  to  him. 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  53 

be  conciliated  with  offerings  and  presents.  The  souls  of 
parents  all  through  life  exercise  an  influence  on  those  of 
their  children,  and  vice  versa.  In  congratulations  there  is  a 
standing  phrase  seriously  meant,  "May  our  souls  rule  one 
another,"  that  is,  act  as  guardian  spirits  to  one  another.  On 
a  higher  stage  the  prayer  is,  "  May  thy  soul  rule  me,"  that  is, 
influence  me  favourably. 

In  the  selection  of  a  bride  it  is  exceedingly  important  that 
the  soul  of  the  wooer  match  with  that  of  his  elect,  a  harmony 
of  souls  which  has  nothing  in  common  with  what  we  under- 
stand by  the  phrase.  It  does  not  mean  love,  but  that  the 
soul  matter  of  the  two  parties  match.1  Matter  must  unite 
with  matter,  as  in  a  chemical  union.  The  surest  sign  of  a 
harmonious  marriage  is  offspring.  If  married  people  have 
no  children,  they  should,  nay,  must  separate,  or  the  man 
must  take  a  second  wife,  whose  soul  matches  better  with  his. 
The  magic  priest  can  know  beforehand  whether  the  souls  of 
bride  and  bridegroom  match  with  one  another.  It  is  also 
revealed  by  dreams  and  omens.2 

The  soul  of  a  chief  exercises  a  dreaded  influence  on  his 
subjects,  for  it  can  give  them  happiness  or  unhappiness. 
His  power  proves  that  he  has  much  and  strong  soul  stuff,  and 
therefore  can  be  dangerous.  In  a  law  court  it  is  not  so  much 
the  judicial  authority  as  the  soul  of  the  judge,  that  is  feared. 
The  Battak  priest  King  Singamang  aradja,  has  most  soul, 
and  is  therefore  superstitiously  feared.  His  commands 
regarding  worship  are  absolutely  obeyed.  In  war  it  is  a  man's 
own  soul  or  that  of  his  kindred  that  protects  him  from  wounds 
or  death  or  drives  him  on  to  death.  If  a  bullet  flies  close 
past  a  warrior  he  says,  "  My  soul  has  turned  the  bullet  out 
of  its  course."  The  soul  powers  of  an  enemy  are  more  to  be 
feared  than  his  weapons,  for  through  his  magic  arts  he  can 
draw  the  soul  to  his  side  and  so  annihilate  its  owner.  When 
one  of  two  people,  who  are  ill  at  the  same  time,  dies,  and  the 

1  The  Ewe  thus  express  it.  The  man  must  take  that  woman  who  was 
already  united  with  him  in  the  pie-existent  state,  or  the  marriage  will  be 
unhappy. 

2  Of.  p.  47. 


54       THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

other  recovers,  the  soul  of  the  latter  is  supposed  to  have  over- 
come the  soul  of  the  former.  The  pupil  of  a  magician  has  no 
need  to  fear  the  rod,  but  does  need  to  fear  the  soul  of  his  teacher. 

The  human  soul  can  be  decoyed  away  by  other  souls,  and 
the  souls  of  children  are  specially  sensitive  and  difficult  to 
preserve.  No  one  must  visit  the  parents  of  a  recently  born 
child  without  bringing  a  present  for  the  child's  soul. 
Magicians  can  entice  away  souls  and  draw  the  soul  of  a  thief 
to  them.  They  can  also  incline  the  soul  of  a  virgin  to  that 
of  a  youth.  Many  can  win  the  soul  of  a  woman  by  love 
potions,  or  by  playing  on  the  flute.  The  spirits  of  the  dead 
are  more  capable  than  the  living  of  drawing  souls  to  them- 
selves. 

Friendships  and  covenants  are  ratified  by  a  mutual 
drinking  of  blood,  or  by  the  parties  mixing  some  drops  of  their 
own  blood  in  order  that  their  souls  may  be  blended.  The 
same  thing  is  done  in  treaties  of  peace.  The  same  considera- 
tion makes  one  like  to  be  spat  upon  by  people  who  are 
accounted  fortunate.  Poor  people  appropriate  the  chewed 
betel  leaves  of  great  chiefs  and  gulp  them  down  in  order  to 
bring  something  of  their  glory  to  their  own  souls.  People 
who  are  clever  at  speaking  are  entreated  to  spit  into  one's 
mouth.  Sick  people  are  breathed  upon  by  the  healthy  in 
order  to  bring  them  healthy  soul  stuff  (breath  magic).  For 
the  breath  also  contains  soul.  Parents,  on  Nias,  catch  with 
their  mouth  the  last  breath  of  their  dying  child.  Women  in 
child-bed  are  breathed  upon  in  order  to  help  the  birth.  But 
anyone  who  comes  in  contact  with  a  sick  person  may  have 
the  sickness  transferred  to  himself,  if  his  soul  accepts  it,  in 
which  case  the  sick  person  recovers. 

When  we  remember  that  that  the  Animist  regards  the  soul 
as  a  separate  entity  in  man,  independent  of  him,  capricious 
and  often  in  conflict  with  him,  and  at  all  times  a  danger  to 
him,  we  can  easily  understand,  that  though  it  is  matter, 
it  is  an  object  of  worship.  In  point  of  fact  more  careful 
worship  is  offered  to  the  soul  than  to  the  heavenly  gods. 
Man  has  to  reverence  his  own  soul  as  well  as  the  souls  of 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  55 

other  living  men,  especially  those  of  his  own  and  his  wife's 
relations.  In  a  difficult  case  of  labour  the  soul  of  the  child 
is  prayed  to  come  and  a  sacrifice  is  offered  to  it.  Sacrifice  is 
offered  to  the  soul  of  the  mother,  that  it  may  be  willing  to 
watch  over  the  child.  Sacrifices  are  also  frequently  offered 
to  the  souls  of  relatives  that  they  may  bring  their  influence  to 
bear  upon  the  child's  soul.  A  man  has  constantly  to  watch 
over  his  soul  for,  exposed  to  a  thousand  influences,  it  is 
always  tempted  to  leave  him.  The  souls  of  the  living  like 
naughty  children  are  fond  of  having  to  do  with  coffins, 
follow  them  when  they  are  carried  out,  place  themselves  upon 
them  and  settle  down  at  the  grave.  If  cries  and  gifts  should 
not  succeed  in  enticing  them  away,  the  man  to  whom  they 
belong  will  die.  Many  cases  of  disease  are  explained  by 
saying  that  the  soul  of  the  man  because  of  some  sudden 
fright  or  attraction  of  a  spirit  has  left  him,  and  needs  to  be 
brought  back. 

A  solemn   procession  is  made  to  the  place  to  which  the 
priest   conjectures   the   soul    has   been   carried.       In    front 
marches  a  virgin  carrying  on  her  head  a  tray  with  cooked 
rice    and   eggs,    as   an    offering    to    the   spirits   who    have 
captured  the  soul.     Then  follows  the  priest,  and  behind  him 
the  nearest  relations  of  the  sick  man.     These  must  not  look 
behind  neither  to  the  right  nor  the  left,  nor  speak  a  word, 
while  all  who  meet  the  procession  must  get  out  of  its  way. 
After  the  sacrifice  has  been  laid  on  a  little  altar  in  the  open 
field  the  priest  entreats  and  conjures  the  soul  of  the  sick 
man  to  return.     He  promises  gifts  and  presents,  smites  with 
a  stick  in   all  directions  so  as  to  scare  away  the  hurtful 
spirits,  till  he  is  supposed  to  have  enticed  the  soul  back.    The 
return  journey  is  very  carefully  performed,  for  the  recovered 
soul  has  now  to  be  led.      The  relatives  go  in  front,  the 
magician  behind  them  constantly  entreating  the  soul  to  come 
with   them.      Meanwhile    the   sick   man's   house    has   been 
cleansed  and  the  floor  covered  with  mats.     No  one  is  per- 
mitted to  remain  near  the  steps  of  the  house  at  the  time  when 
the  expedition  is  expected  to  return,  that  the  soul  may  find 
the  way  clear.     When  the  magician  leaves  the  house  he  calls 


56        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

out  from  below,  "  0  soul  of  R.  R.,  art  thou  now  at  home  ?  " 
Some  one  from  within  answers,  "yes,"  and  so  the  soul's 
return  is  happily  accomplished.  Inside  the  house  it  is  again 
entreated  and  exhorted  in  friendly  terms  and  with  promises 
of  beautiful  garments  and  savoury  meats  to  leave  the  body 
no  more.1 

Frequently  there  is  a  formal  hunt  for  the  escaped  soul, 
when  it  is  captured  and  carried  in  handkerchiefs  to  the  sick 
man.  Sometimes  it  is  enticed  with  rice  and  with  other 
foods.  This  custom  of  soul  capture  is  found  everywhere  in 
the  Indian  Archipelago.2  There  is  another  means  still  to 
help  the  sick  person  to  regain  his  soul.  A  human  effigy 
scantily  clothed  is  manufactured  from  a  banana  tree.  Hair, 
nail  cuttings,  dirt  scraped  from  the  scalp  of  the  sick  man,  or 
such  like,  are  put  in  the  navel  of  this  figure  to  transfer  some- 
thing of  his  soul  stuff  to  the  image.  That  makes  it  the  sick 
man's  substitute.  This  image  is  carried  out  like  a  corpse  to 
the  spot  where  the  spirit  that  holds  the  soul  is  supposed  to 
be.  It  is  there  laid  down,  and  the  soul  of  the  sick  man  is 
summoned.  If  some  one  anywhere  answers  the  cry  it  is 
supposed  that  this  is  the  answer  of  the  soul,  and  that  the 
spirit  has  accepted  the  substitute.  The  company  return  to 
the  village  joyfully,  and  the  magician  says  to  the  sick  person, 
"  Be  of  good  courage ;  protect  us,  we  protect  thee ;  take 
care  of  your  father,  your  mother,  and  your  property."  A 
similar  practice  is  where  the  effigy  of  a  man,  made  of  clay, 
is  placed  on  a  trestle,  given  betel,  hen  eggs,  cooked  rice,  and 
carried  out  to  the  field.  There  the  magician  cries  with  a 
loud  voice,  "Take  what  belongs  to  you."  The  sickness  is 
then  transferred  to  anyone  who  may  chance  to  be  heard 
speaking  at  a  distance.  The  idea  in  these  ceremonies  is 
that  a  substitute  has  been  given.  In  the  first  case  the 
animated  effigy  is  an  equivalent  for  the  soul  of  the  sick  man, 

1  Among  the  Ewe,  also,  a  man's  sickness  is  produced  by  his  soul  leaving 
him.     The  priest  can  bring  it  back.     Spieth,  I.e.,  p.  511. 

2  It  is  surprising  to  find  this  animistic  custom  in  China  also,  where  the 
escaped  soul  of  a  sick  child  is  called  back  by  cries  and  waving  of 
handkerchiefs. 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  57 

and  is  offered  as  such  to  the  hostile  spirit.  In  the  second 
case  the  soul  of  the  unfortunate  person  who  accidentally 
makes  a  sound  must  take  over  the  disease.  The  soul  of  the 
person  who  is  ill  is  released  by  offering  to  the  evil  spirit  a 
substitute.  Hence  the  Battaks  call  these  figures  "body- 
substitute,  soul-ransom."1 

The  soul  is  also  directly  addressed  in  prayer.  Such  a 
prayer  runs  :  "  Here,  0  my  soul,  thou  hast  betel,  I  confess 
that  I  have  failed  in  duty  towards  thee."  Then  follows  an 
enumeration  of  the  faults,  which  for  the  most  part  consist 
in  having  given  it  no  present  for  a  long  time  past.  "  I  bow 
in  reverence  before  thee,  and  from  this  day  will  better  my 
ways  ;  and  I  give  thee  this  betel  as  earnest  money.  If  I  am 
well  I  shall  bring  thee  anything  I  have  that  thou  desirest, 
savoury  meats,  garments,  and  jewels.  Have  compassion  on 
me."  In  sudden  alarms  the  first  thing  is  to  tranquillise  one's 
soul,  to  soothe  and  console  it,  and  promise  it  a  present. 
Parents  do  the  same  thing  with  the  soul  of  their  child. 
They  dedicate  to  it  a  fine  woven  garment,  "the  soul  gar- 
ment," a  knife,  or  such  like,  which  is  henceforth  cherished  as 
a  talisman.  Offerings  are  also  made  to  one's  soul,  a  very 
solemn  process  in  which  the  offerer  wears  his  best  clothes. 
Rice  is  heaped  on  a  tray,  with  flesh  or  fish  above  it,  and  this 
is  handed  over  to  the  soul  with  a  present,  perhaps  a  garment, 
a  sword,  a  spear,  or  an  ivory  arm-ring.  In  specially  critical 
cases  they  dedicate  to  it  a  house,  a  piece  of  a  field,  a 
dollar,  a  horse,  or  a  hen,  with  which  the  fortune  of  the 
possessor  is  henceforth  united.  These  things  may  be  used, 
but  must  not  be  sold.  The  soul,  which  in  the  mind  of 
the  Animist  has  a  separate  existence,  makes  real  use  of 
these  devoted  objects.  If  anyone  has  an  uneasy  dream, 
he  must  at  once  bring  an  offering  to  his  soul,  lest  it  run 
away. 

Nevertheless,  when  things  go  against  a  man  he  often  curses 
his  soul,  calls  it  the  soul  of  a  dog,  for  upon  it  he  lays  the 

1  One  not  familiar  with  animistic  modes  of  thought  might  think  they  were 
presuming  on  the  stupidity  of  the  spirits  in  foisting  on  them  an  image  instead 
of  a  living  man,  but  it  is  only  an  animated  image  that  the  spirits  accept. 


58        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

blame  of  his  misfortune.  This,  however,  only  happens  in 
extreme  wrath,  when  the  man  has  lost  control  of  himself. 

Moral  feeling  has  no  more  connection  with  the  soul  than 
it  has  with  belief  in  the  gods.  The  soul  is  not  the  better 
self  in  man,  nor  the  spiritual  side  of  him.  The  soul  neither 
punishes  nor  leaves  him  on  account  of  his  evil  doings.  It 
pronounces  no  judgment  about  good  or  evil.  It  is  supposed, 
no  doubt,  that  the  soul — of  a  chief,  for  instance — may  exhort 
another,  and  make  him  sensible  of  his  wrong,  viz.,  his  failure 
to  comply  with  the  general  custom,  but  it  does  not  punish 
its  owner.  The  soul  is  not  an  organ  of  morality.  If  parents 
in  anger  chastise  their  naughty  child,  the  soul  of  the  child 
becomes  seriously  ill,  and  the  parents,  fearing  that  it  may 
run  away  and  make  the  child  ill,  hasten  to  beg  its  pardon, 
and  present  the  child  with  a  pandjoraan,  that  is,  a  gift,  as  an 
expression  of  regret  for  their  wrongdoing,  and  a  promise  of 
improvement  for  the  future.  It  is  said  that  man  has  seven 
souls,1  one  of  which  is  buried  with  the  after-birth  of  the 
child,  and  influences  the  man  throughout  his  life.  It  comes 
to  him  occasionally  to  warn  him.  We  might,  therefore,  infer 
that  it  performs  the  work  of  conscience.  But  its  warnings 
do  not  extend  to  the  moral  region.  It  warns  man  against 
what  may  do  him  harm  ;  it  inspires  him  with  courage  in  war. 
More  than  that  it  cannot  do.2 

When  a  man  dies  his  soul  power  leaves  him  in  order  to 
animate  other  things,    men,    beasts,    or   plants.     It  always 

1  These  seven  souls,  regarding  which  their  thoughts  are  not  quite  clear, 
may,  in  all  probability,  represent  functions  and  motions  of  the  soul.  The 
function  of  one  of  them  is  to  watch  over  man,  another  watches  over  his 
property  and  descendants,  a  third  produces  valour,  a  fourth  is  the  avowed 
opponent  of  the  body,  striving  to  drag  it  to  destruction.  The  seven  are  not 
kept  distinct  in  thought  and  soul-worship.  The  Karens  also  ascribe  seven 
souls  to  man  which  signify  different  powers,  mostly  of  an  evil  kind,  which 
influence  him.     (Eppler,  "  Die  Karenen,"  p.  63.) 

2  Kruyt  maintains  that  the  soul  of  man,  which  is  buried  with  the  placenta, 
represents  his  conscience.  This  soul,  which  lias  become  personal,  meets  him 
in  the  other  world  as  judge  and  judges  him  by  the  standard  of  the  national 
customs.  The  judicial  "conscience"  questions  the  dead  man  about  three 
things — was  he  brave,  was  he  generous,  i.e.  bad  be  property,  did  he  beget 
children.  In  any  case  this  conscience  gives  no  judgment  about  good  and 
evil.     It  judges  according  to  the  values  that  prevailed  in  the  earthly  life. 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  59 

remains  a  power  on  this  earth  that  can  never  be  exhausted. 
The  soul  that  continues  to  live,  which  must  be  clearly  dis- 
tinguished from  the  corporeal  soul,  is  called  begu — spirit, 
ghost.     At  first  it  feels  very  uncomfortable  without  a  body  ; 
it  searches  for  its  old  body  and  surroundings ;  it  sits  on  its 
grave  and  terrifies  the  living.     It  likes  also  to  settle  down  on 
certain  fowls,  such  as  the  hawk.     Should  the  cry  of  such  a 
bird  be  heard  the  survivors  exclaim,  "  Be  not  angry  with  us, 
we  have  not  driven  thee  away,  thou  hast  voluntarily  left  us." 1 
For  a  long  time  it  is  not  safe  to  be  near  the  house  of  the  dead 
at  night,  because  the  dead  man  is  moving  about  there.     From 
the  moment  of  his  departure  the  spirit  of  the  dead  is  feared, 
as,  out  of  ill-will,  he  would  like  to  drag  others  with  him  into 
death.     A  great  number  of  things  are  to  be  observed  in  con- 
nection with  the  corpse,  with  its  burial,  and  afterwards.     All 
their  mourning  customs  are  rooted  in  their  fear  of  the  dead.2 
During  the  first   day   perfect  silence  is  enjoined  lest  they 
attract   the   attention    of  the   envious   soul.      The   head   is 
covered  with  a  veil ;  all  ornaments  are  laid  aside ;  as  little 
as  possible  is  eaten,  and  that  only  at  night  as  the  spirits 
do  that  they  may  seem  to  be  like  spirits  themselves.     For 
the  same  reason  they  paint  themselves  black,  the  spirits  being 
supposed  to  be  black. s     The  hair  is  cut  off  for  an  offering  to 
the  dead,  pars  pro  toto.i      It  is  fear  that  leads  them  to  place 
food  on  the  dead  man's  grave,  to  bring  him  his  tools  and  coin, 
that  his  shadow  may  use  them  in  the  other  world  and  be 
content.5     The  inhabitants  of  many  islands  sacrifice  some  one, 
preferably  a  slave,  at  the  grave  in  order  that  they  themselves 
may  be  spared.6     The  impelling  motive  is  always  fear,  not 

1  Among  the  Ewe  the  survivors  assure  the  dead  man  that  they  are  not  to 
blame  for  his  death. 

2  This  is  the  case  even  among  the  Basutos  in  Africa. 

3  This  holds  good  of  the  Papuans  also. 

4  This  custom  prevails  in  Madagascar.  At  the  death  of  King  Radama  all 
his  subjects  had  to  shave  their  heads.  Every  ornament  was  forbidden,  all 
work  stopped,  play  and  dancing  prohibited. 

5  The  Papuans  also  supply  the  dead  with  food  and  tobacco.  They  usually 
destroy  the  belongings  of  the  dead.  Here  and  there  the  widow  is  strangled 
that  she  may  accompany  her  husband  to  the  other  world. 

B  The  bloody  human  sacrifice  has  been  recently  replaced  among  the  Toradja, 


60        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

grief  nor  piety.  To  prevent  the  soul  of  the  dead  from 
returning  to  the  living,  thorns  are  laid  upon  the  corpse,  which 
is  firmly  bound,  its  thumbs  and  toes  tied  together,  ashes  put 
in  its  eyes,  an  egg  placed  in  its  armpits,  all  with  the  view  of 
making  it  incapable  of  movement.1  Separation  from  the 
dead  is  thus  symbolically  indicated.  A  piece  of  rotang  is 
divided,  one-half  of  which  is  kept  by  the  living  and  the  other 
placed  in  the  coffin,  which  signifies  that  all  intercourse  is  now 
at  an  end.  The  funeral  company  on  departing  step  over  the 
coffin  or  creep  under  it.2  As  soon  as  the  coffin  is  brought 
into  the  house  the  body  is  placed  in  it,  and  the  lid  fastened 
down,  else  the  soul  of  some  living  person  might  slip  into  it. 
Meanwhile  every  one  who  can  turns  himself  round  lest  his 
soul  might  be  tempted  to  follow  the  dead.  For  the  same 
reason  no  one  cares  to  be  near  the  grave.  They  spit  behind 
the  coffin  and  bathe  after  the  funeral.  They  bury  the  dead 
where  he  cannot  see  his  village.3  Only  widowers  are  allowed 
to  bury  a  widower ;  only  parents  who  have  lost  children  can 
carry  the  coffin  of  a  child.  The  coffin  is  not  carried  out  by 
the  door  in  the  usual  way,  for  the  soul  must  be  deceived.4 
Coffin  and  grave  are  made  as  narrow  as  possible  to  prevent 
the  soul  from  taking  others  with  it.  If  a  man  is  not  buried 
at  home  his  soul  has  no  rest,  and  therefore  the  corpse  of  him 
who  has  died  among  strangers  must,  if  at  all  possible,  be 

tor  example,  by  making  a  slave  family  dwell  a  long  time  at  the  grave,  and 
during  that  period  treating  them  as  souls  of  the  dead.  (Kruyt,  "  Animisme," 
p.  285  ff.) 

1  The  Basutos  cut  the  sinews  of  the  dead  and  bind  them  with  thongs.  They 
have  also  human  sacrifices.  Those  killed  are  to  serve  as  pillows  for  the  dead 
in  the  other  world.  Among  many  peoples  the  backbone  of  the  dead  is 
broken. 

-The  bush  negroes  of  Suriname  measure  off  their  height  with  a  tape  and 
put  it  in  the  coffin  or  the  grave,  else  they  do  not  feel  safe  from  the  spirit  of 
the  dead. 

3  In  the  funeral  rites  of  the  Ewe  the  belongings  of  the  dead  are  torn  up  and 
scattered  on  the  path  to  turn  back  his  soul  if  it  should  seek  to  visit  the 
living  (Spieth,  p.  634).  Things  which  the  dead  were  fond  of  must  be 
laid  in  his  grave,  otherwise  his  spirit  will  demand  them.  If  his  belongings 
are  given  him  he  will  go  quietly  to  the  underworld. 

4  In  Nias  a  new  path  is  made  through  the  thicket  by  which  the  corpse 
is  carried  forth.     The  soul  must  not  lind  its  way  back  to  the  village. 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  61 

brought  home.  The  head  at  least  must  be  buried  at  home.1 
The  soul  remains  in  union  with  the  body  till  the  flesh  has 
rotted ;  and  only  after  a  great  feast  has  been  arranged  does 
it  pass  into  the  kingdom  of  the  dead.  The  way  thither  is 
full  of  adventure  and  danger ;  there  the  soul  is  received  by  a 
guardian  of  the  dead.  It  must  at  the  last  cross  a  sea  or  river. 
That  is  why  among  many  primitive  peoples  the  coffin  is  made 
in  the  form  of  a  boat  or  a  canoe.  And  it  is  only  after  the 
great  feast  has  been  held,  before  which  the  corpse  is  supposed 
to  be  only  provisionally  buried,  after  the  spirit  has  passed 
into  the  kingdom  of  the  dead,  that  they  feel  safe,  and 
mourning  ceases. 

The  kingdom  of  the  dead  is  supposed  to  be  under  the 
earth  or  in  dismal  places.  The  life  there  is  a  reflection  of  the 
earthly  life.  He  who  dies  a  chief  is  there  a  chief ;  slaves 
remain  slaves,  and  the  magician  continues  to  carry  on  his 
trade.  The  dead  do  business  like  men,  they  arrange  council 
meetings,  play  at  cards  and  dice,  wage  war  and  celebrate 
festivals ;  they  have  wives  and  children,  fields  and  cattle. 
They  dwell  with  one  another  in  families.2  The  more  descen- 
dants anyone  has  on  earth  the  better  does  he  fare  in  the 
kingdom  of  the  dead.  If  one  has  died  a  poor  man  his  import- 
ance there  may  be  increased  if  his  descendants  here  grow  in 
wealth  and  honour.  The  position  of  the  dead  is,  therefore, 
dependent  on  the  fortune  and  conduct  of  their  descendants. 
When  men  are  celebrating  a  festival  great  flocks  of  spirits  are 
present  as  unseen  envious  spectators.  The  vices,  passions, 
and  sufferings  of  the  living  disquiet  also  the  inhabitants  of 
the  kingdom  of  the  dead.  The  life  and  pursuits  of  spirits  go 
on  at  night  time.  There  are  old  legends  which  tell  how  men 
succeeded  in  finding  their  way  to  the  underworld  and  what 

1  Among  the  Bush  negroes  of  Suriname  part  of  the  hair  at  least  must  be 
cut  from  the  head  of  anyone  dying  abroad  and  be  buried  at  home.  The  hair 
of  all  dead  Ancans  must  be  buried  under  a  tree  in  the  village  of  the  tribe 
where  the  original  ancestor  was  supposed  to  reside. 

2  The  kingdom  of  the  dead  is  pictured  in  the  same  way  by  the  Niassers 
and  the  Papuans.  The  whole  essay  on  what  the  Papuans  say  about  soul 
and  spirits  proves  that  the  Animism  of  the  Papuans  is  the  same  as  that 
of  the  Malay  Indonesian. 


62        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

they  saw  there.  There  are  also  legends  which  have  some 
kind  of  presentiment  of  retribution  in  that  life.  People  who 
in  this  life  would  not  he  advised  there  act  like  perfect  fools ; 
men  who  went  about  with  plans  of  murder  continue  to  think 
of  murder ;  gamblers  evermore  taste  the  bitterness  of  play ; 
gossips  get  a  long  tongue,  and  every  one  holds  up  before  the 
eyes  of  the  thief  the  objects  he  had  stolen.  Yet  these  are 
only  isolated  legends,  and  in  the  beliefs  of  the  people  there 
is  no  living  idea  of  retribution  after  death.1 

Men  who  die  of  shameful  diseases,  such  as  leprosy  and 
cholera,  become  slaves  in  the  kingdom  of  the  dead.2  Suicide 
is  regarded  as  most  shameful,  for  it  proves  that  the  soul  no 
longer  desires  to  preserve  the  body,  and  a  sad  lot  awaits  the 
suicide  in  the  kingdom  of  the  dead.  Shameful  in  the  highest 
degree  it  is  to  die  in  child-bed,  to  die  childless,  or  to  meet 
any  sudden  or  violent  death.  A  very  humble  position  is  the 
certain  lot  of  such  ill  the  other  world.3 

The  Battaks  divide  the  souls  of  the  dead  into  three  classes  : 
(l)Begu,  souls  of  the  dead  in  general ;  some  of  these  are  good- 
natured  and  in  certain  circumstances  well  disposed  towards 
their  descendants,  some  of  them  are  bad.  They  are  all  more 
or  less  to  be  feared.  (2)  Some  of  the  Begu,  in  course  of  time, 
if  they  have  many  descendants  who  show  them  due  honour, 
become  higher  spirits,  gaining  a  distinguished  position  in  the 
kingdom  of  the  dead.  These  are  called  Summagot.  (3) 
Higher  than  these  are  the  Sombaon,  the  most  eminent  of  the 
ancestors,  founders  of  great  communities;  these  must  have  at 

1  It  is  the  same  with  the  the  Niassers  (Sudermann,   "Nias,"  p.   72  f.). 

2  Nothing  makes  a  greater  impression  on  the  lepers  who  are  under  the  care 
of  the  missionaries,  or  native  Christians,  than  the  assurance  that  in  the  other 
world  they  shall  cease  to  be  outcast  pariahs. 

3  The  Ewe  believe  that  people  who  have  died  "an  evil  deatli  " — by  violence  or 
in  a  shameful  way — have  a  special  place  in  the  kingdom  of  the  dead,  where, 
stained  with  blood,  they  find  no  rest.  They  are  buried  with  contempt. 
Among  the  Niassers  the  earth  reckons  with  every  one  before  allowing  them 
to  go  further  towards  the  underworld.  Anyone  who  has  done  evil,  who, 
for  example,  has  left  no  descendants,  is  stifled  in  the  grave  by  the  earth. 
At  a  later  time  souls  must  pass  over  a  bridge  as  narrow  as  the  edge  of  a 
knife.  Only  those  succeed  in  crossing  who  have  never  ill-treated  a  eat  and 
who  have  male  descendants. 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  63 

least  seven  generations.  These  ancestors  are  solemnly  invested 
with  this  dignity  by  a  great  feast.  They  are  thought  to 
dwell  in  some  grotesque  part  of  the  earth,  in  some  old  tree, 
on  a  high  mountain,  in  a  cavern,  or  in  a  sulphurous  spring. 
All  nature  is  peopled  with  them.  They  blend  into  the  nature 
deities  from  whom  it  is  often  difficult  to  distinguish  them. 
The  worship  of  terrifying  natural  phenomena  seems  to  have 
gradually  passed  into  a  worship  of  these  earliest  ancestors. 

But  for  all  that  it  must  not  be  said  that  the  Battaks  j 
believe  in_,thermmortality  of  the  soul.  The  shadowy  life  of* 
the  soul  gradually  ceases.  It  is  not  explicitly  said  that  the 
Begu  die,  but  in  course  of  years  they  are  allowed  to  vanish.1 
As  soon  as  the  memory  of  a  dead  person  dies  away,  which  in 
the  case  of  an  ordinary  man  is  very  soon,  and  in  the  case  of 
the  most  renowned  ancestor  is  not  more  than  ten  generations, 
his  existence  in  the  kingdom  of  souls  ceases.  According  to  , 
animistic  thought  man  is  immortal  only  in  his  descendants ; 
he  lives  on  in  his  family.  They  inherit  his  belongings,  he 
enjoys  what  they  have.  Happy  is  he  whose  descendants  are 
many.  It  is  not  the  individual  who  is  immortal ;  it  is  the 
family  as  long  as  it  does  not  become  extinct.  The  individual 
goes  willingly  the  way  of  all  flesh  provided  he  has  sons  to 
propagate  his  race.  He  only  who  has  no  sons  really  dies. 
To  the  Animist  that  is  a  bitter  sorrow.  Daughters  do  not 
count,  for  they  are  lost  to  the  family  by  marrying  into  another 
stock  and  thereby  getting  other  ancestors.  They  are  of  no 
value,  because  they  can  offer  no  worship  to  the  spirits,  so  in 
that  way  are  of  no  use  to  the  dead. 

The  worship  of  spirits  is  reared  on  the  basis  of  Animism. 
The  real  kernel  and  centre  of  the  religions   of  the    Indian 

1  The  Niassers  say  :  Man  dies  nine  times  in  the  underworld,  each  time 
after  as  long  a  period  as  he  had  lived  here,  and  at  length  he  becomes  quite 
black.  Many  become  animals.  The  Olongadju  Dayaks  say  :  Man  dies 
seven  times  in  the  other  world  and  is  then  reborn  on  earth  to  die  agairi,  and 
so  on  without  end.  That  would  be  a  kind  of  transmigration  of  souls  of 
which  we  find  no  trace  elsewhere  in  Indonesia.  The  Toradjans  believe  that 
souls  die  seven  times  in  the  kingdom  of  the  dead  and  are  then  definitely 
dead  when  they  take  the  form  of  stalactites.  The  Papuans  think  that  man 
dies  a  second  time  in  the  other  world,  and  then  all  is  over  with  him. 


64        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

Archipelago  is  this,  and  in  comparison  therewith  the  worship 
of  the  gods  has  almost  completely  disappeared.  The  worship 
of  spirits  has  to  do  with  demons  and  ancestors,  yet  the 
boundary  between  ancestors  and  nature  demons  must  not  be 
rigidly  fixed.1  The  worship  of  ancestors  has  almost  entirely 
appropriated  the  cult  of  demons.  For  the  spirits  of  the  dead 
in  their  malicious  doings  are  scarcely  distinguishable  from  the 
demons. 

Two  things  must  be  kept  in  view  in  ancestor  worship. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  dead  are  expected  to  bless  the  living, 
that  is,  those  with  whom  they  were  related  by  helping  them 
to  obtain  riches  and  descendants  and  by  keeping  away  from 
them,  sickness,  failure  of  crops  and  murrain  of  cattle,  in 
short,  they  are  invested  with  divine  attributes  and  functions. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  position  of  the  dead  is,  in  the 
most  melancholy  way,  dependent  on  the  behaviour  and 
condition  of  their  descendants.  They  are  fairly  comfortable 
in  the  kingdom  of  the  dead  only  so  far  as  their  survivors 
honour  them  and  are  themselves  of  some  consequence.  The 
dead  man  is  entirely  dependent  on  the  consideration  and 
social  position  of  the  living.  Hence  the  Animist  knows  of  no 
greater  misfortune  than  to  die  without  descendants,  for  such 
an  one  has  nobody  who  feels  bound  to  serve  and  honour  him 
after  his  death.  The  dead  demands,  with  the  instinct  of  self- 
preservation,  that  the  living  honour  him  ;  and  he  compels 
them  to  do  so  by  afflicting  them.  Ancestors  are  honoured 
because  one's  own  well-being  is  dependent  on  them.  But 
even  those  spirits,  who  can  make  no  claim  to  the  worship  of 
descendants,  compel  men  to  offer  them  sacrifices,  for  they,  too, 
have  power  to  torment  the  living.  The  worship  of  ancestors 
is  rooted  not  in  piety,  but  in  fear.  A  living  old  father  or 
grandfather  is  often  abominably  treated,  for  there  is  nothing 
to  be  hoped  or  feared  from  him.  But  as  soon  as  he  is  dead 
the  situation  is  changed.  The  prudent  descendants  bewail 
him  with  many  tears  and  marks  of  sorrow  ;  they  provide  for 

1  The  Christian  Battaks  at  once  use  Begu,  that  is  spirits  of  the  dead,  for  the 
demons  of  the  Bible.  Everything  demoniac  presents  itself  to  them  in  this 
dreaded  form.     They  call  nature  demons,  and  recently  the  devil,  Begu. 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  65 

him  pompous  funeral  obsequies ;  they  adorn  his  grave  with 
great  taste  ;  they  offer  sacrifices  that  are  often  beyond  their 
power,  and  finally  they  set  him  among  the  heroes. 

Moral  background  is  here  entirely  wanting.  The  dead  are 
desired  not  only  to  leave  the  living  in  peace,  but  to  bless 
their  families.  In  return  for  this  service  the  soul  of  the 
departed  claims  not  only  reverence  and  loving  remembrance, 
but  also  sacrifices  and  festivals.  In  honouring  his  ancestors 
a  man  serves  himself.  The  world  may  not  praise  his  piety, 
but  it  does  praise  the  riches  that  have  enabled  him  to  pro- 
vide such  a  brilliant  festival.  The  ancestor  festival  has  often 
the  secondary  end  of  displaying  the  opulence  of  its  giver. 
The  living  father  cares  little  whether  he  be  considerately 
treated,  if  only  he  receive  after  death  that  honour,  which 
gives  him  distinction  in  the  kingdom  of  the  dead.  That 
leads,  among  the  Animists  as  everywhere  else,  to  the  defraud- 
ing of  the  poor,  for  they  can  offer  nothing  considerable  to 
their  ancestors.  Hence  we  can  easily  understand  how  the 
mind  of  the  Battak  should  be  set  on  riches.  How  he  gets 
them  is  of  no  consequence.  Honesty  will  guarantee  him  no 
higher  position  in  the  other  world,  while  baseness  and 
vulgarity  are  not  there  deemed  disgraceful. 

In  spirit  worship  the  main  end  is  in  any  pressing  mis- 
fortune to  secure  the  best  possible  issue.  Attempts  are 
made  by  magic  to  force  the  spirits  into  man's  service ;  they 
are  deceived,  fought  against,  and,  when  that  is  impossible, 
fled  from.  Men  humble  themselves  in  presence  of  their 
mysterious  powrer,  but  try  to  make  as  much  capital  as  they 
can  out  of  the  situation. 

The  spirits  of  the  newly  dead  must  be  specially  shunned ; 
they  are  soothed  by  lamentations,  which,  in  some  cases,  may 
spring  from  genuine  grief,  but  which,  for  the  most  part,  are 
recited  from  fear  and  custom.  They  are  means  employed  to 
show  the  departed  soul  howr  dearly  it  was  loved.  The 
Battaks  have  a  special  dialect  for  lamentations  sung  at  the 
grave.  It  differs  from  the  ordinary  idiom  in  that  the  names 
of  all  things  are  paraphrased.  That  is  manifestly  caused 
less  by  poetic  taste  than  by  fear,  fear  lest  the  begu  may 

E 


66        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

obtain  power  over  the  things  and  persons  if  called  by  their 
right  names.1 

The  dead  are  feared  for  a  double  reason ;  first,  because 
they  seek  to  drag  the  living  with  them  to  the  kingdom  of 
the  dead,  even  their  nearest  and  dearest  relations ;  and, 
second,  because  the  ancestors  are  viewed  as  the  guardians 
of  inherited  custom.     Anything  that  has  become  custom  is 

1  The  same  superstition  demands  that,  in  war,  in  sickness,  and  in  the 
search  for  camphor,  things  should  be  designated  by  a  paraphrase,  partly 
misleading,  lest  the  soul  be  endangered.  As  an  illustration,  take  the  follow- 
ing lament  of  the  widow  of  a  chief  for  her  husband  :  — 


'& 


Ah  !  my  consort,  thou  hast  left  me,  my  prince, 

Me,  a  rice  pod  {i.e.  solitary). 

A  butting  cow  am  I,  a  butting  buffalo 

Without  a  mate. 
The  consort  I  mean  who  was  taken  from  me, 
Now  am  I  poor,  I  who  had  a  consort. 
My  father  {i.e.  husband),  the  great,  the  illustrious, 
Whose  walk  was  noble,  who  easily  demolishes  Mount  Si — 
Manabun,  who  rose  in  strength  (like  the  sun) 

And  perished  grievously. 
My  father  was  called  in  the  evening  (to  the  council  meeting), 
In  the  morning  he  was  sent  for. 
A  bear  on  the  street,  a  tiger  in  the  gate. 
Now  art  thou  overthrown,  father,  prince, 

My  husband. 
Oh,  my  father  !  who  had  bones  that  grew  not  weary, 

Fingers  that  did  not  rest. 
I  cannot  sufficiently  bewail  my  husband, 
My  father,  who  was  kind  to  every  one. 
I  must  think  of  him  when  I  look  upwards, 
When  I  remember  how  thou  wentest  to  market, 

Where  business  flourisheth. 
I  can  no  longer  see  distinctly  for  the  flow  of  my  tears 
When  I  remember  the  great  misery  which  is  in  my  body, 
That  I  am  without  a  husband  ! 

LAMENT  OF  A  MOTHER  FOR  HER  DEAD  SON 

0  !  my  descendant,  do  not  yet  attempt  to  leave  me, 
A  rice  pod.     I  will  go  into  the  earth  in  thy  place. 
My  father  (that  is,  son)  must  still  live, 
Live  in  this  world. 

If  thou  shouldest  die, 
Ah  !   then  I  am  as  a  hen  whom  one  has  made  to  fly, 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  67 

regarded  as  right,  and  offences  against  traditional  custom 
are  sins.  Wrong  is  avoided  only  so  far  as  there  is  fear  of 
the  ancestors  avenging  the  wrong.  The  vengeance,  however, 
would  not  fall  on  the  individual,  but  on  the  whole  tribe. 
The  ancestors,  in  the  other  world,  are  interested  in  the  life 
of  their  descendants,  and  continue  in  some  sort  to  live  with 
them,  though  the  earthly  life  alone  is  vita  vitalis,  and  the 
other  only  a  sad  apparent  existence.  They  are  always 
jealously  on  the  watch  to  see  whether  their  descendants  are 
as  punctilious  as  they  were  in  their  day,  and  woe  to  them  if 
they  have  permitted  innovations.  Through  fear  of  his  fore- 
fathers the  Animist  is  conservative  to  the  bone.1  Great  chiefs 
who  have  won  outstanding  merit  in  connection  with  the 
politics  and  life  of  the  tribe,  also  the  founder  of  a  village,  are 
regarded  as  specially  sacred.  They  watch  with  keen  eyes  the 
doings  of  their  descendants.  Besides  these,  there  are  legions 
of  wicked  demons,  spirits  of  the  dead,  who  are  not  ancestors, 
but  who,  on  account  of  their  malice,  compel  a  craven  worship. 
Among  these  are  the  dead  who  had  no  sons  ;  the  souls  also  of 
those  who  died  of  hunger,  leprosy,  or  cholera  ;  the  souls  of  the 
very  poor ;  the  souls  of  those  whose  corpse  had  shrunk  after 
death.     All  these  are  specially  dangerous  to  women  in  preg- 

As  a  horse  which  one  has  let  loose. 
My  descendant  will  leave  me. 
Me,  an  untimely  birth, 
Which  I  like  a  hot  pot  cannot  hold  ; 
Like  iron  smithy  work  which  will  not  hold  together. 
Yes,  it  drags  me  upward,  it  throws  me  down  like  a  lid, 
When  I  remember  thy  voice  which  could  not  yet  speak, 
Which  answered  to  the  words  of  his  mother  only. 
I  must  drown  myself  if  thou  diest, 
Drown  myself  in  the  river  Si  Tumallam 
If  thou  art  thrown  into  the  deep, 

Into  the  deep  abyss,  from  which  one  cannot  clamber  up. 
I  will  undertake  to  make  a  twisted  rope 
The  way  to  death. 

1  The  state  of  matters  in  conservative  China,  the  classic  land  of  ancestor 
worship,  is  probably  the  same.  It  may  be  hoped  that  China,  now  that  she 
has  broken  with  her  painfully  guarded  tradition,  will  also  get  rid  of  her 
ancestor  worship.  By  giving  up  the  custom  she  has  actually  given  notice 
to  the  ancestors  of  her  purpose  to  obey  them  no  longer. 


68        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

nancy  and  in  child-bed.1  Many  diseases  are  traced  back  to 
their  influence.  Because  no  one  among  the  living  voluntarily 
honours  them,  they  make  themselves  to  be  remembered  by 
setting  traps  for  men.  The  soul  of  a  suicide  is  dangerous, 
and  still  more  that  of  a  woman  who  has  died  in  giving  birth 
to  a  child.  In  their  malice  they  scheme  to  ruin  other  women, 
and  procure  for  them  the  same  lot.2 

Earth,  air,  and  water  are  supposed  to  be  peopled  with 
spirits.  They  are  most  numerous  in  the  forest  and  the  waste 
fields,  where  they  lie  in  wait  for  the  living,  and  afflict  them 
with  disease  and  madness,  or  drag  them  away  to  an  awful 
death.  They  prowl  round  the  houses  at  night,  they  spy 
through  the  crevices  of  the  partitions,  or  come  into  the 
house  in  the  form  of  some  man  or  beast.  Sometimes  in 
epidemics  they  can  even  be  seen.  There  are  men  who  have 
the  spiritual  gift  of  being  able  to  see  spirits  and  souls. 
Sometimes  these  men  see  the  spirit  of  the  dead  stepping 
behind  the  coffin  and  perching  the  soul  of  a  living  man  upon 
it — the  inevitable  result  of  which  is,  that  the  man  must 
die.  The  number  of  dangerous  spirits,  to  which  human 
misery  is  traced  back,  is  legion.  Names  are  given  and 
attributes  ascribed  to  spirits  of  particularly  bad  repute,  such  as 
the  spirit  who  causes  cholera  :  he  is  of  a  terrific  size,  and  carries 
a  mighty  club  with  which  he  smites  his  victim  to  the  earth. 

These  spirits  have  no  relation  of  dependence  on  God. 
Belief  in  God,  or  gods,  and  belief  in  demons  belong  to  entirely 
separate  domains.  The  good-natured  God  has  no  power  to 
restrain  the  mischief  of  the  spirits,  and  is  never  besought  to 
do  so.  The  ancestors  alone  can  help  in  this  conflict.3  We 
have  here  an  unsettled  dualism  of  religious  thought.  Con- 
vinced of  the  goodness  of  God,  the  Animist,  seeking  for  an 
explanation  of  the  evil  and  misery  of  the  world,  misguided  by 
the  mysterious  darkness  and  horror  with  which  death  is  sur- 
rounded, has  been  led  by  his  Animism  to  the  spirits  of  the 

1  Among  the  Papuans  also  the  souls  of  those  who  die  a  violent  death 
are  specially  feared.  They  lay  snares  everywhere  for  living  men.  The 
same  thing  is  found  among  the  Karens. 

'■'■  The  same  idea  is  found  among  the  Kols. 

15  The  Ewe  certainly  expect  help  from  God  against  evil  spirits. 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  09 

dead.  But  these  creatures  of  a  fancy  inspired  by  fear  have 
gradually  overshadowed  the  Creator.  The  fear  of  sinister 
beings,  daily  nourished  by  human  misery,  has  for  religious 
feeling  borne  down  the  idea  of  God.  Wurm,  in  his  summing 
up  of  the  animistic  religions,  confirms  this.  He  says :  "  This 
one  God,  in  whom  all  peoples  believe,  is  thought  of  as  a  good 
God,  but  without  control  of  the  evil  spirits  that  can  injure 
man,  so  that  men  need  not  apply  to  Him  for  deliverance 
from  these  spirits,  but  must  work  out  deliverance  for  them- 
selves. Hence  few  sacrifices,  or  none,  are  offered  to  this  one 
God."  1  Wurm  also  says  of  the  coast  tribes  of  the  Cameroons : 
"  No  evil  that  falls  on  man  conies  from  Loba  (God) ;  it  is 
caused  by  evil  spirits  or  magicians.  Having  nothing  to  fear 
from  Loba,  they  gradually  forgot  Him,  and  the  purer  know- 
ledge of  God  was  obscured."2 

We  stand  here  at  the  centre  of  animistic  religion,  viz., 
spiritism.  How  are  the  spirits,  that  is,  mostly  the  ancestors, 
honoured?  Men  live  in  communion  with  them.  No  im- 
portant matter  is  undertaken  without  first  consulting  them. 
Before  and  after  a  journey,  a  military  expedition,  or  the 
laying  out  of  a  village,  they  are  consulted  and  presented  with 
gifts.  The  consciousness  of  being  always  dependent  upon 
them  makes  men  endeavour  to  keep  them  in  good  humour. 
That  is  done  by  offerings,  mostly  offerings  of  food.  The 
spirits,  who  would  fare  ill  in  the  other  world  without  human 
help,  demand  from  the  living  means  of  subsistence,  the  soul  of 
which  (shadow,  exhalation)  they  consume.  It  is  the  business  of 
the  magic  priest  to  determine  who  is  to  receive  an  offering,  and 
what  it  must  be,  in  each  particular  case ;  for  he,  in  virtue  of 
his  science,  can  hold  intercourse  with  the  spirits,  in  dreams, 
for  example,  or  by  oracles  (inspection  of  fowls).  A  tradition 
has  been  formed  as  to  what  each  begu  must  get.  Some  receive 
bananas  and  siri-leaves,  others  flesh,  eggs,  or  fish.  Since  the 
sacrifice  to  spirits  forms  the  centre  of  their  religion,  the  heathen 
are  called  by  Christians  and  Mohammedans  "sacrificers  to 
spirits  " — a  designation  which  they  also  give  themselves. 

1  P.  Wurm,  "  Handbuch  der  Religiousgeschichte,"  p.  94. 

2  P.  Wurm,  "  Die  Religion  der  Kiistenstamme  in  Kamerun,"  p.  34. 


70       THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

In  return  for  this  service  the  ordinary  spirits  are  expected 
to  exempt  the  "  liberal  "  dispenser  from  their  evil  attentions. 
But  the  family  ancestors,  who  share  in  all  the  interests  of  the 
life  of  their  descendants,  are  expected  to  do  more,  viz.,  all 
that  one  would  ask  from  God,  and  in  rare  cases  does  ask. 
They  are  to  confer  upon   their  grandchildren  the  blessings 
that  seem  most  desirable  to  a  Battak's  heart — descendants, 
money  and  goods,  flocks  of  cattle,  fruits  of  the  field,  and 
health.     In  cases  of  illness  they  are  to  arrest  the  disease,  to 
find  a  way  of  escape  from  every  distress,  and  chase  away  all 
evil  spirits.1     Since  they  have  power  to  inflict  evil  on  their 
descendants,  the  report  of  the  magician  who,  in  virtue  of  his 
magic,  is  closely  connected  with  them,  or  that  of  the  medium, 
regarding  the  wishes  of  the  dead  is  absolutely  believed  and 
in  every  case  complied  with,  even  though  it  lead  to  debt  and 
poverty,  for,  as  the  proverb  says,  "  It  is  better  to  be  in  debt 
to  men  than  to  spirits."     Spirit  worship  costs  the  Battaks 
much  money,  and  many  a  head  of  cattle,  which   they  give 
without  a  murmur. 

/  Ancestors  are  worshipped  through  media.  The  coffin  and 
the  grave  are  specially  adapted  thereto,  for  the  soul  loves  the 
body  as  long  as  any  fragments  of  it  exist,  and  likes  to  dwell 
at  the  grave,  especially  during  the  first  days  after  death. 
Hence  offerings  are  laid  down  freely  on  the  grave.  Again, 
objects  which  the  dead  man  possessed,  parts  of  his  body  also, 
are  very  effective  media,  for  something  of  the  soul  power 
which  once  animated  him  still  adheres  to  them.  The  soul  of 
the  dead  likes  to  return  to  its  bones.  Bones,  and  especially 
the  skull  of  the  dead,2  which  contains  soul  matter  in  an 
eminent  degree  (the  jaw  bone  among  the  Papuans),  are 
favourite  media  for  intercourse  with  the  spirits.  The  skulls 
of  ancestors  are  carefully  preserved,  for  they  give  one  the 
power  of  summoning  their  former  owners.  The  place  where 
the  skeleton,  or  even  the  skull,  is  buried  is  a  kind  of  temple 

1  No  one  can  say  whether  ancestors,  in  virtue  of  their  higher  position  in 
the  spirit  kingdom,  or  in  consequence  of  special  mysterious  forces,  have 
power  over  the  spirits  of  sickness. 

2  Hence  the  widespread  reverence  for  the  skull  means  reverence  for  the 
ancestors  through  mediation  of  the  skull. 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  71 

for  the  spiritist  cult.  Even  hair,  nails,  pieces  of  clothing,  all 
the  things  already  mentioned  as  informed  with  the  souls  of 
the  dead,  are  valuable  as  media.  Over  the  whole  Indian 
Archipelago  certain  heirlooms  (pusaka)  are  held  sacred, 
because  they  are  supposed  to  contain  soul  matter  of  the 
ancestors.  No  native  parts  with  these  valuables.  Images 
of  ancestors  are  also  media  of  intercourse  with  spirits,  though 
they  must  first  be  artificially  made  so.  We  meet  with  such 
media  in  Nias  and  among  the  Papuans,  in  Kaiser  Williams 
Land  and  Dutch  New  Guinea.  A  carved  or  chiselled  image, 
in  itself,  has  no  value  for  the  cultus,  and  must  first  be  arti- 
ficially made  the  dwelling-place  of  an  ancestor.  The  Niasser 
priest  calls  on  the  soul  of  the  dead,  and  invites  it  to  dwell  in 
the  image.  Thereupon  one  waits  at  the  grave  till  a  certain 
little  spider  (momoko)  shows  itself,  which  is  caught  and 
placed  on  the  image  of  the  ancestor.  In  the  little  spider 
they  see  the  embodiment  of  the  soul  of  the  ancestor  in  ques- 
tion. The  image  is  only  fit  to  be  a  medium  of  intercourse 
when  this  has  been  annexed  to  it.  The  Papuans  also  manu- 
facture carved  figures  in  which  the  spirits  of  the  forefathers 
take  up  their  abode.  These  images  of  ancestors  are  set  amid 
the  worshipping  multitude  at  sacrificial  feasts,  and  food 
placed  in  their  arms. 

The  soul  of  the  dead  may  also  settle  on  a  living  man  as  a  / 
medium  (Shamanism).  Here  we  have  to  do  with  anf 
enigmatic  form  of  spiritism  which  hardly  yields  itself  to  psy- 
chological analysis.1  According  to  reliable  statements  of 
intelligent  Battak  Christians  who  were  eye  and  ear  witnesses 
and  partly  media  themselves,  such  an  event  is  enacted  as 
follows.  The  relatives  or  families  of  the  tribe  are  gathered 
together  on  the  village  street,  preferably  at  night,  in  order  to 
consult  the  ancestor.  The  drums  begin  to  beat  their  muffled 
monotone.  The  medium,  man  or  woman  (sibao,  hassand- 
aran),  who,  however,  is  never  the  magic  priest,  sits  quietly 

1  There  is  another  form  of  possession  which  is  irregular  and  outside  the 
cultus.  Some  one  during  the  visions  of  possession  becomes  seriously  ill,  and 
is  often  like  a  madman.  The  Battaks  clearly  distinguish  this  possession 
from  insanity. 


72       THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

inhaling  the  narcotic  smoke  of  the  incense.  Soon  he  rises, 
and  to  the  beat  of  the  drums  begins  a  dance.  This  dance 
consists  of  convulsive  movements  of  the  hands  and  feet ;  it 
grows  more  and  more  lively,  and  ends  in  convulsive  leaps,  the 
dancer  breaking  down  exhausted.  He  has  now  become  a 
new  man,  and  sees  the  spirit  in  question  coming  to  him  in  its 
earlier  human  form.  He  is  no  longer  sensible  of  his  own 
body ;  his  feeling  and  thought  are  those  of  the  dead.  The 
men  around  him  seem  to  him  small,  red  in  colour ;  he  feels 
giddy.  In  his  exhaustion  palm  wine  and  betel  are  given  to 
him.  Frenziedly  he  swallows  often  handfuls  of  the  sharpest 
pepper.  Before  asking  counsel  of  the  spirit  that  appears  in 
him  the  medium  is  tested  as  to  whether  the  spirit  who  is 
summoned  is  really  speaking  through  him  or  whether  he  is 
feigning  it.  The  relatives  inquire  about  family  secrets,  about 
far  away  members  of  the  family,  and  about  circumstances 
known  only  to  the  nearest  survivors.  Should  the  possessed 
person  approve  himself  by  fitting  answers  the  reason  why  he 
has  been  called  is  stated,  and  he  is  asked  why  he  is  angry, 
and  what  must  be  done  to  avert  the  calamity.  The  de- 
mands of  the  dead,  whatever  they  are,  must  be  met.  Spirits 
are  summoned  in  order  to  reveal  where  things  lost  or  strayed 
men  may  be  found.  Childless  married  people  consult  them 
as  to  how  they  may  obtain  children.  The  help  of  the  fore- 
fathers is  besought  in  epidemics.  When  the  first  missionary 
came  to  Silindung  in  the  heart  of  Battakland,  a  medium,  on 
the  occasion  of  a  sacrificial  feast,  expressed  the  conviction 
that  unless  they  slew  or  drove  away  the  white  man  with  his 
new  customs,  the  ancestor  would  bring  evil  upon  his 
descendants.  The  medium  is  frequently  also  the  foreteller 
of  coming  events.  Thus,  from  the  statements  of  some  old 
Battak  Christians,  some  years  before  the  appearance  of  the 
first  missionary,  a  medium  foretold  his  coming  and  exhorted 
his  grandchildren  to  hearken  to  the  good  message  of  the 
foreign  men. 

The  ecstatic  condition  is  often,  though  not  always,  furthered 
by  artificial  means  such  as  incense,  drum -beating  and  dancing. 
A  medium,  however,  is  frequently  possessed  without  these. 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  73 

The  medium  is  much  exhausted  by  his  efforts.  Not 
infrequently  at  the  beginning  of  his  career  he  falls  ill  and 
dies ;  such  people  it  is  said  never  reach  old  age.  But  they 
have  a  high  place  in  the  people's  esteem.  They  are  persons 
to  be  reverenced,  and  whom  it  is  dangerous  to  come  too  near. 
No  one  becomes  a  medium  through  study  (like  the  datu). 
The  spirit  himself  chooses  his  own  media.  While  it  is  difficult 
to  pay  the  datu  for  his  labour,  the  medium  receives  nothing. 
When  he  dies  a  successor  is  not  appointed  by  election  or  any 
human  mediation,  but  only  by  the  entrance  of  the  spirit. 
Shamanism  is  found  among  many  peoples  of  the  Indian 
Archipelago,  the  Battaks,  the  Javanese,  the  Buginese,  the 
Alfurus  in  Halmahera,  Bum,  Ambon,  Minahassa,  Borneo, 
Bali,  Letti,  Malacca,  among  the  Papuans,  and  in  the  south 
sea.  We  come  upon  it  also  among  the  Kols,  in  South  India, 
and  among  many  peoples  of  Africa.  The  Shamanism  of  the 
Tunguses  is  highly  developed.1  It  seems  therefore  to  be 
a  frequent  accompaniment  of  spirit  worship. 

In  many  cases  the  possessed  may  be  skilled  impostors. 
But  that  itself  does  not  explain  the  ecstatic  condition. 
Attempts  have  been  made  to  trace  back  the  paroxysms  to 
madness  or  to  epilepsy,  which  are  states  that  may  be 
artificially  produced.  But  the  Battaks  are  capable  of  clearly 
distinguishing  madness  and  epilepsy  from  possession.  Mental 
diseases  of  course,  like  all  bodily  diseases,  are  traced  back  to 
the  influence  of  evil  spirits  ;  but  a  medium's  ecstatic  condition 
is  of  quite  a  different  character.  It  does  not  resemble  any 
known  form  of  madness.  A  madman  never  seeks  to  proclaim 
the  will  of  ancestors  ;  he  never  pretends  to  be  a  medium  of 
spirits ;  he  is  tormented  not  by  ancestors  but  by  evil  spirits 
only.  Before  and  after  the  paroxysms  the  medium  is  in  a 
perfectly  normal  state  of  mind.  A  mentally  diseased  or 
epileptic  person  is  never  consulted  about  the  will  of  the 
ancestors.  That  would  be  done  as  the  more  simple  procedure 
were  the  ecstatic  state  of  the  medium  regarded  only  as  a 
mental  disease  artificially  produced.     Moreover  the  mentally 

xKruyt,  "Animisme,"  p.  449  ff.     Wurm,  "  Religionsgesch,"  p.  57  ff.     It 
also  frequently  appears  in  China  :  H.  Talyor,  "Pastor  Hsi,"  p.  153  ff. 


74       THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

diseased  is  entirely  unfit  to  be  a  medium.  Attempts  to  explain 
the  matter  by  hysteria,  catalepsy,  and  the  like,  only  substitute 
one  enigma  for  another.  The  Battak  Christians  are  firmly 
convinced  that  these  things  are  real,  and  that  they  are  the 
work  of  demons.  They  meet  our  doubts  with  the  question  : 
Do  you  know  any  better  explanation  ?  "  The  answer  we^get  ( 
from  Christians  make  this  at  least  certain  that  in  by  far  the 
greater  number  of  cases  there  is  no  conscious  deception,  and 
that  as  a  rule  the  Sibaso  is  left  in  a  state  of  semi-bewilder- 
ment and  of  eclipse  of  self-consciousness."  The  missionary 
Lett  from  his  experience  on  Nias  declares :  "  It  may  be 
difficult  to  distinguish  the  actual  influence  of  demoniac  powers 
from  conscious  dissimulation,  delusion,  lying  and  deceit. 
But  this  is  certain  that  in  the  heathen  world  still  untouched 
by  the  Gospel  there  are  dark  spiritual  powers  at  work  of  which 
we  in  Christendom  know  nothing,  and  that  the  heathen  are 
exposed  to  many  influences  from  the  kingdom  of  darkness 
from  which  we  seem  to  be  protected."  "  We  missionaries 
must  try  to  do  justice  to  such  facts,  the  more  so  that  we 
have  in  all  our  communities  sincere  Christians  who  were 
themselves  formerly  under  such  influence,  and  who  guarantee 
its  reality  from  their  own  experience."  1 

Battak  Christians,  who  were  themselves  in  former  days 
media,  have  sometimes,  against  their  will,  fallen  back  into  \ 
the  possessed  state.      When,  as  they  say,  "  they  became  men   \ 
again,  they  were  made  profoundly  miserable  by  their  fall, 
and  they  assured  me  that  they  must  have  been  acting  under  / 
a  constraint  which  they  could  not  resist.2 

1  Additional  proofs  will  be  given  in  the  following  pages. 

2  Metzler,  the  missionary  at  Silindung,  at  a  time  when  Christianity  had 
already  entered  on  its  course  of  victory,  reports  as  follows  :  A  sacrificial 
feast  was  held  by  the  heathen,  on  account  of  a  mentally  diseased  youth.  A 
Christian  at  the  same  time  appeared  as  medium,  and  confessed  afterwards  to 
the  missionary  that  he  and  his  wife  had  prayed  that  God  would  keep  them 
from  the  evil  spirit,  and  yet,  against  his  will  and  knowledge,  he  had  gone  to 
that  village  and  been  possessed,  and  after  regaining  his  senses  was  thoroughly 
ashamed.  A  Christian  woman  confessed  that  the  spirit  came  upon  her,  and 
then  she  no  longer  knew  what  was  being  done  with  her.  The  elder  of  the 
village  and  some  chiefs  watched  her  when  the  music  began  in  the  neighbour- 
ing village.     The  elder  said  to  her,  You  are  now  a  Christian,  and  the  evil 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  75 

The  descending  spirit  makes  use  of  a  special  language,  the 
words  of  which,  like  that  of  the  funeral  songs,  are  partly 
paraphrases,  partly  obsolete,  and  not  understood  by  every  one. 
It  is  possible  that  a  medium  may  have  practised  this 
vocabulary  beforehand,  but  in  many  cases  most  improbable. 
As  a  rule  the  drum  must  be  beaten  a  long  time  if  the  spirit 
jpi^the  ancestor  is  to  come,  and  the  medium  is  wonTtcT  bring 
on  tlie~convuIsfons^by  a  dance.  But  neither  is  absolutely 
necessary.  The  ecstatic  condition  is  mostly  brought  about 
by  a  certain  intoxication  and  disorder  of  mind.  Possession 
rarely  comes  to  a  man  unprepared,  and  at  a  time  when  no 
one  is  thinking  of  it.  Sometimes  the  medium  may  not  have 
known  the  dead  man  whose  consciousness  has  replaced  his 
own.  One  who  was  born  a  Christian  reported  two  cases  in 
which  women,  on  whom  the  spirit  had  alighted,  read  Battak 
writings  fluently  in  their  ecstatic  condition,  though  in  their 
normal  state  they  could  not  read.  People  who  at  other 
times  can  scarcely  read  display  great  eloquence  in  the 
possessed  state.  However  the  ecstatic  state  may  be  ex- 
plained, this  at  least  is  certain,  that  so  far  as  it  is  not  simply 
deception,  the  soul  of  the  possessed  is  interfered  with  by 
powers  which  he  cannot  control,  powers  which  annihilate  his 
will,  his  self-consciousness,   his   own  thought,  and   replace 

spirit  has  nothing  more  to  do  with  you.  At  his  prayer  the  woman  became 
quiet,  but  after  a  time  became  restless  again.  Men  held  her  by  force,  but 
could  not  in  the  end  resist  her.  She  tore  herself  free,  and  rushed  into  the 
heathen  village.  Later  she  came  to  the  missionary  in  tears,  confessing  her 
sin,  and  that  she  was  ashamed  at  being  seen  by  the  people.  How  could  I 
have  left  my  children  alone  in  the  night  if  I  had  been  in  possession  of  my 
senses.  Only  a  few  weeks  ago  my  two  brothers  died,  and  that  would 
certainly  have  prevented  me  from  going  to  such  a  place  if  I  had  known  what 
I  was  doing.  Another  woman,  in  a  like  situation,  confessed  that  she  did 
not  know  how  she  went  to  the  village,  and  was  afterwards  ashamed  and 
afraid.  Both  women  are  regular  churchgoers.  A  candidate  for  baptism  at 
Si  Marangkir  (Silindung),  who  had  formerly  been  a  medium,  was  again 
and  again  assailed  by  the  spirits  seeking  to  possess  her.  During  an 
illness  she  suddenly  sprang  from  her  bed,  and  began  to  dance  around  the 
house  like  one  possessed,  telling  her  relatives  that  unless  they  made  an 
offering  to  it — the  spirit— which  had  been  formerly  promised,  it  would  give 
her  no  rest.  After  she  had  come  to  herself,  she  firmly  and  stoutly  main- 
tained that  she  did  not  know  what  had  happened  to  her. 


\ 


76       THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

them  by  a  foreign  determining  power.  It  is  worth  noting 
that  heathen  Christians  unanimously  explain  possession  not 
by  disease,  but  by  supernatural  influences,  and  they  do  so 
with  a  clearness  and  assurance  which  is  otherwise  foreign  to 
them. 

The  dead  are  worshipped  first  of  all  by  putting  their  orna- 
ments and  property  into  the  grave  along  with  them,  by 
killing  slaves  and  cattle  at  the  burial,1  by  preparing  a  great 
feast  at  which  much  food  is  divided  among  the  guests. 
Three  days  after  the  funeral  food  is  placed  on  the  grave, 
together  with  the  dead  man's  tobacco  poach  and  tinder  box. 
Money,  tobacco,  food,  and  all  kinds  of  objects  are  laid  on 
the  grave  that  the  dead  man  may  carry  them  to  the  relatives 
who  had  died  before  him.  The  grave  is  ornamented  with 
the  horns  of  the  buffalo  that  was  slain  at  the  death  feast, 
and  at  a  later  time  with  wooden  and  stone  ornaments  as  a 
memorial  of  how  much  the  dead  man  was  honoured.  Carved 
and  chiselled  images  commemorate  a  dead  chief.  Prominent 
heads  of  tribes  are  buried  at  first  provisionally,  and  years 
after,  when  all  the  flesh  has  rotted,  the  bones  are  dug  up 
again  amid  the  beating  of  drums  and  the  firing  of  guns. 
These  are  anointed,  presented  with  food,  and  definitely  set 
in  a  prominent  spot.  On  this  occasion  as  many  as  fifteen 
buffaloes  and  one  hundred  pigs  are  slaughtered.  By  this 
solemn  ceremony  the  soul  of  the  ancestor  is  promoted,  and 
becomes  a  higher  being  in  the  other  world. 

After  the  lapse  of  about  seven  generations  from  the  death 
of  a  distinguished  man  his  descendants  constitute  him  a 
Sumangot.  But  it  is  always  a  matter  of  do  ut  ties,  inasmuch 
as  he  is  now  under  obligation  to  bless  his  people.  Whilst 
sacrifices  are  offered  to  an  ordinary  begu  only  when  he  makes 
himself  perceptibly  unplea  rit,  offerings  are  made  to  the 
higher  spirits  without  any  constraining  cause.  Large  cattle 
only  must  be  offered  to  them.  The  highest  stage  to  which 
an  ancestor  can  climb  is  called  Sombaon.  He  is  installed  in 
that  rank  also  by  a  festival  of  the  tribe.  There  is  built  for 
him  on  the  market-place  a  little  dwelling-house,  which  he 

1  The  Dayaks  bury  a  living  slave  with  the  dead. 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  77 

visits  at  the  feasts.  A  buffalo  or  a  horse  is  sacrificed,  and 
its  blood  offered  to  him.  The  Sombaon  is  a  prince  among 
the  dead ;  it  is  said  that  he  sometimes  ascends  to  God,  and 
remains  a  long  time  with  Him.  His  dwelling,  which  he 
chooses  for  himself,  must  not  be  entered  by  men.  He  is  seen 
sometimes  in  the  form  of  an  immense  serpent.  After  the 
manner  of  semi-deities  the  Sombaon  occasionally  mingle  with 
men,  abduct  beautiful  maidens,  carry  on  all  manner  of 
roguish  tricks,  and  sometimes  bless  individuals  with  rich 
gifts.  To  their  descendants,  however,  they  are  protecting 
spirits  ;  they  are  their  real  gods. 

As  the  relation  to  the  spirits  is  in  no  way  conditioned  by 
morality,  it  is  only  natural  that  attempts  should  be  made  to 
turn  the  power  of  the  dead  to  one's  advantage  by  means  of 
magic.  The  magician  (datu)  has  a  closer  connection  with 
them  than  other  men,  and  knows  how  to  compel  them  into 
his  service.  This,  of  course,  applies  less  to  the  ancestors,  who, 
on  receiving  liberal  gifts,  are  always  ready  to  protect  the 
house,  the  village,  and  the  tribe,  than  to  the  remoter  spirits ; 
these  need  compulsion  before  they  will  serve  the  magician. 
That  is  most  clearly  shown  in  the  Battak  pangulubalang.  A 
boy  from  another  tribe  is  captured  ;  his  confidence  is  won  by 
dainties.  One  day  he  is  brought  out  in  front  of  the  village, 
where  his  eyes  are  covered.  The  magician  steps  in  front  of 
the  boy  and  questions,  one  might  say  hypnotises,  him  :  "  Wilt 
thou  go  whither  we  send  thee  ?  Wilt  thou  do  us  good  and 
our  enemies  harm  ?  Wilt  thou  defend  us  in  war  and  destroy 
our  enemies  ?  Wilt  thou  kill  those  whom  we  name  to  thee  ?  " 
To  all  these  questions  the  boy,  without  misgivings,  says  yes. 
Meanwhile  lead  has  been  melted  on  the  fire ;  it  is  suddenly 
poured  down  the  boy's  throat,  and  the  boy  dies.1  The  corpse 
is  burnt  to  ashes ;  the  ashes  and  the  fat  are  gathered  and 
made  into  a  magic  medicine.  This  is  concealed  in  a  stone 
image,  which  thereby  becomes  endowed  with  a  soul.  The  j 
soul  of  the  murdered  boy  is  employed  as  an  aid  in  war ;  it  is  ' 
sent  out  to  kill  enemies,  or  to  cause  them  to  commit  suicide. 

1  The  probable  object  of  this  mode  of  killing  is  to  prevent  the  promises 
being  withdrawn  in  the  death  struggle. 


78        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

They  have  thereby  secured  the  service  of  a  spirit  who  is  com- 
pelled to  let  loose  his  destructive  powers  on  all  against  whom 
they,  his  masters,  set  him.  The  soul  of  such  a  murdered  man 
sometimes  descends  on  a  medium  much  against  the  medium's 
will,  for,  as  we  can  easily  understand,  they  wish  to  keep  the 
matter  secret.  The  medium  in  a  frenzy  stuffs  burning  coals, 
or  masses  of  strong  pepper,  into  his  mouth,  drinks  great 
quantities  of  filthy  water,  gathers  up  remnants  of  food  that 
are  lying  about,  and  devours  them  with  the  greed  of  an 
animal.  Then  the  spirit  cries :  "  I  say  it,  I  say  it."  He 
wishes  to  reveal  who  he  was,  and  who  were  his  murderers. 
This  must  be  prevented  lest  it  cause  trouble  to  the  murderers. 
All  therefore  cry  :  "You  must  not  do  that,  grandfather."  He 
also  reveals  what  the  inhabitants  of  the  village  must  do  in 
order  to  dwell  secure  and  be  victorious.1 

The  spirits  are  even  directly  opposed.  In  epidemics  they 
are  shot  at  and  attacked  with  swords,  while  drums  are  beaten 
and  a  "  heathenish  noise  "  made  by  beating  on  the  wooden 
partitions  of  the  houses,  clappering  with  metal  plates  and 
with  boards  in  order  to  frighten  the  begu  and  make  them  fly 
away.  If  a  woman  has  died  in  child-bed,  all  the  men  in  the 
neighbourhood  whose  wives  are  near  their  confinement  shoot 
towards  the  village  entrance  to  hinder  the  spirit  who  killed 
that  other  woman  from  coming  in.  Though  the  souls  are 
incorporeal,  yet  they  seem  sensible  to  shot  and  stab.  At 
burials  also  guns  are  fired  to  keep  them  away.  When  a  child 
is  being  born  the  man  arms  himself  with  a  sword  to  prevent 
all  evil  spirits  from  entering  through  the  crevices  of  the  house. 
Certain  signs  scrawled  with  chalk  upon  the  house  bar  the 
entrance  of  dangerous  guests.  Thorns  of  the  wild  citron  are 
affixed  to  the  house  stairs,  and  a  trough  full  of  water  is  placed 
before  them,  that  the  spirits  may  be  wounded  or  frightened, 

1  Attempts  have  been  made  to  place  the  pangulubalang  on  the  same  plane 
as  the  ancestor  image  of  the  Niassers,  into  which  is  brought  the  soul  of  the 
departed.  That  is  favoured  by  the  fact  that  the  murdered  man  sometimes 
visits  a  medium,  and  that  it  is  the  soul  which  lives  after  death  and  not  the 
impersonal  soul-stuff  that  is  in  question.  I  do  not  know  whether  soul-stuff 
or  the  soul  of  a  dead  person  is  supposed  to  be  active  in  the  magic  wand  which 
is  so  popular.     Perhaps  that  occupies  the  same  stage  as  the  pangulubalang. 


BATTAK  HEATHENISM  79 

for  they  are  afraid  of  water.  An  offensive  smell  drives  away 
spirits.  Hence  the  sick  are  often  enveloped  in  the  densest 
smoke. 

There  is  no  disgrace  in  fleeing  from  spirits.  Gloomy  places 
are  avoided,  and  people  do  not  care  to  go  out  alone.  Except 
in  cases  of  necessity  no  one  leaves  the  house  after  sunset,  or 
in  moonlight,  when  the  spirits  swarm  in  great  numbers. 
Houses  and  villages  are  shifted  here  and  there  to  escape  the 
influence  of  evil  spirits.  Sick  people  are  carried  secretly  by 
night  into  another  house  to  get  away  from  the  tormenting 
spirit.  They  prefer  to  deceive  the  spirits.1  During  harvest 
loud  singing  and  whistling  are  avoided  lest  the  spirits  should 
suppose  that  men  were  rejoicing  at  an  abundant  harvest,  and 
out  of  envy  take  their  share.  Diseases  are  spoken  of  euphe- 
mistically. If  a  sick  person  is  improving,  care  must  be  taken 
not  to  say  so,  but  to  paraphrase  it — "The  sick  person  is  more 
so  and  so."  The  aim  of  many  of  the  above-mentioned  mourn- 
ing usages  is  to  dupe  the  spirits  of  the  departed.  The  ancestors 
are  also  occasionally  assailed  with  mockery  and  wrath.2 

1  If  a  man  is  hindered,  in  the  day's  work  he  had  planned,  by  an  unfavour- 
able sign,  he  returns  home  and  goes  to  bed.  On  being  wakened,  he  acts  as 
if  a  new  day  had  begun,  and  goes  to  his  work  satisfied  with  his  successful 
cunning.  The  Papuans  deceive  their  spirits  by  setting  before  them  only  the 
tail  of  the  animal,  and  making  the  animal  itself  run  while  they  say  :  Here,  you 
have  a  piece  of  a  dog  or  of  a  pig.  In  Leh,  little  Thibet,  a  mother  fouls  the 
face  of  her  child  with  filth,  which  so  disfigures  the  child  that  the  spirits  think 
he  is  very  hateful,  and  do  not  envy  the  mother.  Hateful  names  are  given 
children  for  the  same  reason. 

2  A  heathen  Niasser,  who  was  hard  pressed  by  his  creditors,  suddenly  fell 
into  a  rage  against  the  idol  which  represented  his  father.  He  took  it  down 
from  its  place,  saying :  Idol  of  my  father,  since  you  have  not  helped  me  to 
dignity  and  wealth,  you  must  regale  yourself  to-night  under  the  brood-hen, 
and  he  thrust  it  there.  Next  morning  he  brought  it  forth,  and  blasphemously 
said  :  Well,  idol  of  my  father,  how  did  you  enjoy  last  night  under  the  hen  ? 
Then  he  swung  it  out  into  the  bush  through  the  garret  window.  The  Alfurus 
and  Halmaheras  treat  images  and  amulets  that  do  not  prove  effective  to  strokes 
of  a  stick.  A  peculiar  light  is  thrown  upon  the  idolatry  of  the  educated 
Chinese  by  reading  the  following :  Outside  the  town  Nan-wei  there  are 
embankments  to  protect  the  land  against  the  sea.  The  land  between  the 
embankment  and  the  sea  is  watered  by  a  canal  which  is  regulated  by  sluices. 
The  god  of  a  neighbouring  temple  has  power  over  the  sluices,  and  they  must 
not  be  opened  without  his  permission.  A  new  official  caused  the  sluices  to 
be  opened  without  consulting   the  god.     It  was  now  said  the  water  could 


80        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

The  worship  of  spirits,  with  the  fear  underlying  it, 
completely  fills  the  religious  life  of  the  Battaks  and  of 
all  animistic  peoples.  Their  whole  daily  life  in  its  minutest 
details  is  saturated  with  it.  At  birth,  name-giving,  courting, 
marriage,  house-building,  seed-time  and  harvest,  the  spirits 
must  be  considered.  In  wood-cutting,  in  the  laying  out 
of  a  village,  in  war,  in  commerce,  in  smithy  and  agricultural 
operations,  they  must  be  satisfied.  They  share  in  the  meals, 
the  dwelling,  the  blessings  of  the  harvest.  They  receive 
their  share  of  goods  before  any  of  the  living ;  they  witness 
everything,  and  demand  consideration.  The  heathen  in 
their  own  way  are  eminently  religious.1  They  make  no 
distinction  between  religion  and  social  life.  The  business 
of  the  family,  the  state,  and  everything  else  is  built  upon 
and  determined  by  the  religion  of  spirits.  Hence  the  all 
but  innumerable  multitude  of  prohibitions  regarding  food, 
usages,  words  and  actions.  Hence  the  observing  of  days, 
the  interpretation  of  dreams,  the  sacrifices  and  feasts,  with 
their  important  claims.  The  heathen  spend  much  on  their 
religion.  To  meet  its  claims  thev  involve  themselves  in 
hopeless  debt,  neglect  their  labour  for  their  daily  bread, 
impose  upon  themselves  the  most  absurd  sacrifices,  and 
never  think  of  grumbling.  In  all  that,  of  course,  the 
reference  to  God  or  gods  falls  into  the  background.     The 

not  flow  back  as  the  god  was  offended.  The  official  caused  the  image  to  be 
brought  before  him  in  the  Yamen,  and  the  god  was  commended  to  throw 
himself  down  in  presence  of  the  Mandarin  as  is  customary  at  audiences.  The 
idol  was  laid  with  its  face  on  the  ground,  and  the  Mandarin  scolded  it  like  a 
woman  for  its  insubordination,  condemning  its  wicked  behaviour  in  not  allow- 
ing the  water  to  flow  back,  although  that  was  necessary  for  the  welfare  of  the 
land.  He  then  delivered  the  idol  to  the  constables  to  give  it  forty  strokes. 
The  people,  saw  nothing  extraordinary  in  that,  as  it  was  in  harmony  with  their 
ideas  of  the  relation  between  the  gods  and  them  ("  Chronicle  of  London  Miss. 
Society,"  1907,  p.  163  f. ).  A  long-continued  drought  prevailed  in  Shan-si. 
When  all  sacrifices  failed,  the  idols  were  dragged  from  the  temple  and  placed 
in  the  burning  sun  that  they  might  there  roast  and  split,  and  so  send  the 
needful  rain  for  their  9elf-preservation  (H.  Taylor,  "A  Chinese  Scholar," 
p.  129). 

1  Religious  fear  runs  through  all  the  relations  of  the  Papuan's  life. 
We  get  the  same  impression  from  the  Ewe,  the  Kols,  the  Karens,  the 
Basutos,  etc. 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM      81 

spirits  are  really  the  gods,  and  never  has  tyrant  more 
cruelly  tormented  his  slaves  than  the  spirits  and  demons 
their  blinded  worshippers.  If  the  heathen  were  desirous 
of  getting  rid  of  God,  why  did  they  not  seek  a  brighter 
and  more  cheerful  cult?  Why,  in  all  the  world,  do  they 
worry  themselves  with  religions  that  yield  them  only  labour 
and  sorrow  ? 


B.  THE  CHARACTERISTIC  FEATURES  OF 
ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM 

The  more  thoroughly  we  study  animistic  heathenism  the 
more  astonished  we  become  at  the  wonderful  system  which 
we  bad  never  dreamed  of  finding  among  uncivilised  peoples, 
among  cannibals  and  head-hunters.  We  discover  that  even 
vilified  heathenism  shows  a  work  of  thought.  Superstition 
has  a  system.  Its  ungainly  features  are  not  marked  by  a 
planless  caprice,  but  all  converge  to  one  centre,  the  view 
_of^tlu3__soul__aj_Jlie^^  The  strange  world  of 

ideas  confronts  us  as  a  compact  philosophy  of  nature.     We 
are  fairly  amazed  at  the  uncivilised  man's  inherent  love  of 
knowledge,  the  need   he  feels  for  a  rational    approach    to 
the  enigmas  and  forces  of  the  world,  and  for  coining  to  an 
understanding  with  the  supernatural.     Animistic  heathenism 
must  be  taken  as  seriously  as  the  higher  religions  of  Greece 
and  India.     It  has  not  found  the  truth,  has  even  wandered 
far  from  it,  but  what  a  felt  need  for  knowledge !     Animists 
are  engaged  in  putting  questions,  the  problem  of  human 
life  has  risen  upon  them,  and  they  are  wrestling  with  the 
riddle  of  existence.     A  melancholy  gravity,  a  tragic  sadness 
runs    through     animistic    religion,    and    all    frivolity    and 
enjoyment  of  life  are  far  from  it.     The  splendour  of  the 
tropics   has   been   unable   to  brighten  the  religious  life  of 
the  Animist.     The  results  of  his  reflection  are  dark,  hard, 
and  cheerless.     The  friendly  gods  are  far  away,  the  spirits 
are   numerous   and    formidable,    their    service    hard,    while 
fate    is    pitiless    and   their   own    souls   unmerciful.       How 

F 


/ 


82        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

precious  must  religion   be  to  men  when  it  leads  them  to 
accept  such  burdens ! 

But  however  much  we  may  be  surprised  by  the  animistic 
system  of  thought,  we  must  not  suffer  it  to  keep  us  from 
looking  at  the  sober  facts.     It  is  only  the  outer  side  of 
things    of    which    thought    takes    hold.       We   cannot   tell 
whether,    in    earlier   days,   God  was   earnestly  sought,   but 
the  animistic  heathenism    of  to-day  thrusts    God   and  the 
gods   aside.      No   one   nowadays   seeks   after  God.      That 
which  was  formerly  invented,  perhaps  in  a  sincere  desire 
for   knowledge,    is   now   ossified   into   rigid    misunderstood 
pictures,  which,  however  much  they  rule  the  practical  life, 
excite   no    one   to   reflection.      Hardly   any   one    can    now 
explain   the  meaning   of  usages   so   scrupulously  observed. 
The  Animist  of  to-day  knows  no  labouring  with   religious 
problems,  far  less  any  wrestling  with  them.     It  is  easy  to 
idealise  Animism,  and  to  surround  its  adherents  with  the 
glory  of  souls  in  eager  search  for  truth.     But  the  picture 
would  not  be  true.     The  Animist  of  to-day  is  imprisoned 
in    a    tradition     he    misunderstands  ;     his    thoughts    and 
aspirations   are   directed  solely  to  earthly  values,   and  the 
supernatural  interests  him  only  so  far  as  he  must  come  to 
terms  with  it   in    the    interests   of  his   earthly   well-being. 
Animistic  heathenism  exhibits  a  complexio  oppositorum ;   a 
search  for  truth   and   an   indifference  towards  the  Divine ; 
a  reflection  on  the  deepest  problems  and  a  clinging  to  the 
stalest  externalities  of  life  ;  a  very  real,  sorrowful  resignation 
accompanied    with    the    deepest    moral    corruption.      The 
painful  labours  of  former  generations  have  been  fossilised, 
and  become  a  curse  to  the  later  ones.     But  the  preaching 
of  the  Gospel  has  to  do  with  the  heathenism  of  the  present, 
and  if  it  does  not  mean  to  give  up  all  its  influence,  must 
paint  heathenism  neither  too  white  nor  too  black :  it  must 
do  justice  to   all  its  forces,  the  good  as  well   as  the  evil. 
An  elephant  may  be    taught   clever   tricks   quite   contrary 
to   its   nature.     But   that   is   not   the   real   elephant.     The 
elephant   nature   must   be   studied    in  the  primeval  forest, 
not   in   the    circus.       Heathenism   and   its   forces   are   only 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM      83 

understood  in  intercourse  with  the  heathen.  The  messengers 
of  the  Gospel  will  only  hinder  the  success  of  the  Gospel 
by  any  one-sided  emphasising  either  of  the  lights  or  of  the 
shadows  of  heathenism.  Mission  work  must,  in  its  own 
interest,  endeavour  to  work  out  as  true  a  picture  of 
heathenism  as  possible.  It  is  a  matter  of  necessity, 
therefore,  for  us  to  enter  into  the  details  of  this  question  ; 
what  features  stand  out  as  essential  from  the  chaos  of 
animistic  heathenism,  its  doctrine  of  gods,  souls,  and  spirits. 
The  missionary  ought  to  be  in  a  favourable  position  for 
such  an  inquiry,  seeing  he  knows  not  only  heathenism,  but 
what  is  much  more  important  here,  he  knows  the  heathen 
as  well. 

Any  one  who  has  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  animistic 
heathen  will  see  that  they  are  possessed  by  a  reasoned  world- 
view  concerning  the  all-soul  and  its  influences,  but  that  in  all 
real  religious  questions  there  is  universal  uncertainty  and 
great  ignorance.  There  is  a  desire  to  understand  surround- 
ing nature  with  its  mysterious  powers  of  life  and  destruction, 
but  it  remains  full  of  mystery  and  dread.  They  have  a  dim 
sense  of  some  higher  supernatural  power  directing  these 
natural  forces.  They  give  names  to  that  power  ;  they  clothe 
it  in  a  human  garment ;  they  endeavour  to  find  out  what  it 
is,  yet  all  the  while  they  feel  that  they  are  groping  in  the 
dark.  Custom  and  tradition  lull  them  into  apathetic  repose, 
but  they  always  become  conscious  of  their  ignorance  as  soon 
as  they  are  confronted  by  the  sure  convictions  of  the  foreigner. 
The  only  argument  which  a  heathen  brings  against  any  chal- 
lenging doubt  is  an  appeal  to  the  ancestors,  Our  fathers 
taught  us  thus.  Every  heathen  admits  that  he  knows 
nothing  certain  about  God,  or  his  relation  to  Him,  about 
creation  and  the  life  to  come,  that  is  to  say,  about  those  very 
questions  which  he  would  fain  have  answered.  The  mission- 
aries when  they  inquire  about  religious  things  always  get  the 
answer :  "  That  is  not  known ;  we  cannot  see  God."  But 
when  they  ask  further :  "  Why  then  do  you  name  the  gods 
and  tell  stories  about  them  ? "  the  answer  is  :  "  The  ancients 
have  so  told  us,  but  no  one  knows  anything  clearly  about 


84        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

them."1  The  inherited  tradition  about  the  life  after  death 
satisfies  them,  because  they  never  reflect  upon  the  subject,  and 
know  of  nothing  better.  The  animistic  heathen  knows  nothing 
about  religious  problems  and  personal  convictions,  and  has 
no  desire  to  think  about  them,  for  he  does  not  regard 
religious  matters  as  personal  convictions  to  be  won,  but  as  a 
fixed  possession  of  the  tribe.  All  that  his  countrymen  believe 
he  accepts  unquestioningly.  The  religious  and  intellectual 
life  of  the  people  is  smothered  in  incredible  indolence. 
No  one  has  any  sense  of  responsibility.  Every  one  does 
what  every  one  else  does,  and  every  one  bows  in  submission 
to  what  they  all  fear. 

This  fundamental  uncertainty  is  found  everywhere  in 
animistic  heathendom.  Asked  about  his  conceptions  of  the 
other  world  the  Papuans  of  Dutch  New  Guinea  are  wont  to 
answer,  "  We  do  not  know.''  When  the  people  of  Madagascar 
are  sounded  about  their  religious  affairs  the  usual  answer  is, 
"  We  do  not  know  that,"  or,  "  We  do  not  think  about  these 
things."  A  traveller  once  asked  a  Damra  highlander,  "  Who 
created  the  earth  and  the  world  ?  "  The  answer  was,  "  We  do 
not  know  ;  we  are  a  stupid  people  ;  all  that  we  need  to 
know  is  how  to  kill  a  big  animal  and  eat  it."  If  a  Herero  is 
asked,  "  Whither  do  your  people  go  after  death  ? "  he  will 
answer,  "  I  do  not  know."  Missionaries  of  the  Church  of 
England  Missionary  Society  report  concerning  the  Dinka 
(Soudan),  "  They  have  very  indistinct  notions  about  the  life 
after  death,  and,  if  questioned  on  the  subject,  some  will 
answer  (aiccooi),  'We  do  not  know."  To  all  his  deeper  ques- 
tions, Bohner,  on  the  gold  coast,  always  got  the  answer,  "  We 
do  not  know."  An  old  heathen  of  Ma-Gwamba  in  South 
Africa  said,  "  Why  does  our  land  lie  in  death  ?  It  is  because 
we  are  ignorant.  Let  us  learn,  and  our  land  will  live."  Even 
in  India,  Missionary  Gloyer  declares  of  the  Dombo  in 
Jeypur :     "  It     is    incredible    how    foolish,    ignorant,    and 

1  It  is  possible  to  discuss  religious  questions  with  Mohammedans,  but  I 
have  never  succeeded  in  doing  so  with  the  heathen  of  Sumatra.  They  feel 
the  weakness  of  their  position.  The  Mohammedan  becomes  keen  and  angry 
in  religious  discussions,  the  heathen  remains  cool,  admits  his  ignorance,  and 
intrenches  himself  behind  his  inability  to  know. 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM      85 

dependent  the  heathen  are  in  religious  things.  We  would 
do  them  grievous  wrong  by  assuming  that  they  understood 
their  religion  in  the  slightest  degree.  They  have  only  a 
practical  interest  in  it.  Father  and  mother  have  so  done 
—further  than  that  there  is  only  stupidity."  These  testi- 
monies, taken  at  random,  could  easily  be  increased. 

The  system  of  religion  sketched  above  must  not  deceive 
us  as  to  the  insecure  footing  which  it  gives  to  its  adherents. 
There  are  no  martyrs  of  an  animistic  religion.  The  inherited 
piety  is  supported  solely  by  the  rotten  pillars  of  custom  and 
tradition.  When  we  missionaries  are  gathering  material 
concerning  a  heathen  religion,  we  get  the  most  diverse 
answers,  for  the  traditions  do  not  agree.  It  must  not  be 
supposed  that  the  statements  we  have  made  above  under 
the  rubric,  belief  in  the  gods  and  in  spirits,  are  a  spiritual 
property  of  the  individual  heathen.  Very  few  of  them  can 
give  even  fragmentary  explanations.  It  is  only  by  various 
collections,  by  knocking  at  the  most  diverse  doors,  by  the 
combination  and  the  comparison  of  material  collected  among 
kindred  tribes,  that  we  get  any  clear  picture  of  his  religion, 
such  a  picture  as  indeed  never  dawned  on  a  heathen  mind.1 
He  is  satisfied  to  conform  to  the  cultus  to  which  all  sub- 
scribe. The  world  of  thought  on  which  it  is  built  is  to  him 
a  matter  of  total  indifference. 

The  student  is  surprised  to  find  the  same  wavering  un- 
certainty in  the  morality  that  is  closely  connected  with  their 
religion.  It  is  impossible  to  construct  any  harmonious  system 
of  the  ethics  of  animistic  religion.  No  doubt  a  custom  has 
been  formed  to  which  all  submit,  and  which  they  have  not 
the  power  to  disregard.  This  custom  has  two  roots,  the 
stronger  being  tradition,  supported  by  fear  of  the  ancestors ; 
that  which  has  been  is  right,  that  which  is  new  is  to  be 
rejected.  Its  other  root  is  egoism.  Certain  limits  must  be 
drawn,  or  everything  will  go  to  ruin.     Theft,  adultery,  and 

1  The  right  view  is  frequently  obtained  only  by  comparison  of  the  views 
and  customs  of  kindred  peoples.  And  it  is  just  this  systematic  comparison 
of  all  religions  of  the  Archipelago  which  makes  Kruyt's  book  on  Animism  so 
reliable  in  its  results. 


86        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

the  like  are  punishable  acts  in  the  interest  of  decency  and 
order ;  but  they  are  not  morally  condemned.  Theft  is 
punished  at  one  time,  at  another  it  is  praised  as  a  sign  of 
cunning.  The  adulterer  is  devoured  in  certain  circumstances, 
viz.,  when  he  is  poor ;  when  he  has  no  powerful  relations  to 
protect  or  ransom  him  ;  but  that  does  not  prevent  fornication 
being  stamped  a  manly  virtue.  Lying  is  condemned  in  pro- 
verbs, but  parents  rejoice  when  their  son  exhibits  adroitness 
through  shameless  lying.  There  are  beautiful  moral  fables 
which  inculcate  virtue  and  rectitude,  love  and  fidelity,  but 
the  man  who  made  them  the  rule  of  his  conduct  would  be 
laughed  at.  Everywhere  there  is  contradiction,  obscurity, 
and  ignorance.  It  can  be  shown  with  some  appearance  of 
truth  that  the  animistic  religions  teach  that  the  gods 
avenge  evil,  and  also  that  they  are  utterly  indifferent  regard- 
ing it.  Retribution  in  the  other  world  is  postulated  and 
also  denied.  Their  fatalism  makes  all  moral  effort  illusory. 
Lofty  thoughts  and  the  foulest  coarseness  go  irreconcilably 
together. 

Paul  in  Acts  xvii.  30  characterises  heathenism  as  XP^>V01 
tj/9  uyuolug.  He  calls  the  heathen  in  Eph.  iv.  18,  ea-KOTw/mei'oi 
t\]  Siavoia  oWe?,  Siu  t>]v  dyvoiav  t*iv  ovcrav  ev  avroig.  They 
are  compared  in  scripture  to  the  blind  (Isaiah  xlii.  7),  and 
heathenism  to  darkness  (Isaiah  ix.  2  ;  Acts  xxvi.  18  ;  Eph. 
v.  8).  This  does  not  mean  that  there  is  nothing  but  night 
and  darkness  in  heathenism.  Darkness  means,  in  scripture, 
ignorance  in  moral  and  religious  matters ;  he  that  is  in  dark- 
ness knoweth  not  whither  he  goeth  ;  he  has  no  goal  before 
him  ;  he  sees  no  way,  and  gropes  about  in  uncertainty.  That 
is  precisely  the  situation  of  animistic  heathenism  on  its  formal 
side.  The  heathen  knows  not  whence  he  cometh,  whither  he 
goeth,  or  how  he  should  demean  himself  upon  the  way. 

But  all  the  while  he  longs  for  certainty,  for  an  authority  to 
guarantee  him  absolute  knowledge.  Hence  the  considera- 
tion given  to  priests  and  magicians ;  they  pretend  to  know 
something  certain  about  the  gods  and  spirits.  The  heathen 
runs  to  them  in  every  time  of  anxiety  and  distress,  and  pays 
them   liberally.     Often   deceived  by   them    he   comes   back 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM      87 

again  ;  he  clings  to  them  as  the  only  people  who  know. 
This  is  the  cause  of  the  breathless  interest  with  which  the 
multitude  listens  to  the  utterance  of  the  spirit  when  he 
settles  on  a  medium— he  must  know  something  certain,  for 
he  comes,  he  says,  from  the  kingdom  of  spirits.  One  of  our 
Battak  teachers,  in  an  essay  on  the  Battak  religion,  describes  \ 
this  longing  by  a  parable  :  "  The  heathen  Battaks  seek  God,  ^ 
but  in  doing  so  they  are  like  the  young  bird  talaktak,  who, 
when  its  mother  has  flown  away  for  food,  opens  its  bill  atj 
every  bird  it  sees,  opens  its  bill  even  to  the  dry  falling  wood, 
and  only  wearies  itself  by  so  doing.  Before  it  gets  anything 
to  eat,  its  mother  must  come.  So  was  it  with  the  heathen 
in  their  search  for  God.  They  worshipped  that  which  was 
not  God,  and  they  only  wearied  themselves  in  so  doing,  for 
they  made  their  Father  that  which  was  not  their  Father." 
They  have  recourse  to  dreams,  oracles,  inspection  of  fowls, 
search  for  signs,  judgments  of  God,  and  the  like,  because 
they  desire  a  reliable  revelation  of  God. 

This  uncertainty  of  animistic  heathenism  is  shown  in  the 
numerous  inconsequences  of  its  thought  and  action.  Men 
believe  in  God,  and  yet  do  not  trouble  themselves  about 
Him.  He  is  called  the  "source  of  being,"  and  yet  they 
trace  the  origin  of  man  to  another  source.  The  ancestors 
are  believed  to  be  dependent  on  the  gifts  of  the  living,  and 
yet  they  pray  to  them  as  the  givers  of  earthly  good.  Laws 
are  promulgated  whose  authority  is  respected  by  no  one, 
and  evil  is  condemned  and  praised  in  a  single  breath.  The 
idea  of  an  inexorable  fate  cannot  fail  to  cripple  every 
religious  action,  and  rarely  is  any  effort  made  by  sacrifice 
and  magic  to  avert  the  predetermined  evil.  All  these  are 
pure  contradictions  that  cannot  be  reconciled.  When  these 
inconsequences  are  pointed  out  to  the  Battak  he  has  no 
other  answer  than  the  desperate  one,  We  do  not  know. 
The  Christians  among  them  feel  at  once  those  contradictions, 
and  delight  to  use  them  in  their  polemics. 

This  childish,  unprofitable,  wavering  search  has  something 
touching  in  it,  which  justifies  the  hope  that  the  erring  will 
in  due  time  find.     At  least  they  have  tried  to  touch  the  hem 


88        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

of  the  Divine  garment,  and  have  fallen  into  the  worship  of 
nature,  dimly  seeing  in  its  forces,  and  falteringly  worshipping 
there  the  Deity.  They  have  sought  for  some  explanation  of 
the  world,  and  the  life  of  man  with  its  duties,  entanglements 
and  enigmas,  which  would  satisfy  them,  and  they  have  been 
caught  in  the  net  of  Animism,  this  marvellous  philosophy  of 
nature  which  constructs  an  All-soul  alongside  the  Deity  as 
the  power  of  life.  They  have  sought  to  obtain  a  glimpse 
into  the  mystery  of  death,  and  the  darkness  that  lies  beyond 
it,  and  they  have  fallen  into  the  swamp  of  spiritism,  where 
they  seek  intercourse  with  the  dead,  and  yet  at  the  same 
time  fear  contact  with  them,  where  they  imagine  that  they 
are  dependent  on  the  events  of  that  shadowy  world  beyond, 
and  yet  dream  that  the  living  have  power  over  the  dead. 
But  as  soon  as  anything  new  comes  within  the  horizon  of 
uncivilised  man,  whether  it  be  the  positive  assertion  of  the 
Christian  message  or  the  self-conscious  propaganda  of  Islam, 
the  beliefs  he  has  hitherto  held  begin  to  waver.  They  were 
never  inwardly  possessed.  The  animistic  heathen  never 
attempts  to  force  his  opinions  on  the  adherents  of  other 
religions ;  he  is  not  sufficiently  sure  of  them  himself  to  do 
this.  So  long  as  his  own  circle  of  beliefs  is  not  disturbed  he 
lives  indolent  and  self-satisfied  on  his  capital  of  inherited 
ideas.  And  he  draws  back  in  alarm  from  the  stronger 
convictions  of  others. 

There  is  something  pardonable  in  ignorance  and  blindness. 
They  may  and  do  merit  blame,  but  they  are  not  wickedness. 
Those  who  have  wandered  from  the  way  may  be  brought 
back,  and  those  who  are  ignorant  may  be  taught.  Hence 
God  could  wink  at  the  times  of  ignorance  (Acts  xvii.  30). 
So  far  as  heathenism  is  uncertainty,  missionaries  can  go  to 
work  with  hope  of  success. 

If,  however,  animistic  heathenism  were  only  uncertainty 
and  ignorance,  the  first  ray  of  the  Divine  message  that  fell 
upon  it  would  be  sufficient  to  dispel  the  darkness  and  put 
an  end  to  the  blind  groping.  But  there  are  mightier  powers 
at  work  in  heathenism.     There  is  revealed  in  it  a  power  of 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM      89 

falsehood  and  misguidance  which  is  the  deeper  basis  of  that 
uncertainty.  We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  animistic 
heathen  is  false  in  the  practice  of  his  religion.  No,  it  is  to 
him  a  holy  and  a  serious  matter,  the  most  important  business 
of  his  life ;  and  even  the  magician,  to  whom  many  gross 
deceptions  can  be  brought  home,  is  more  deceived  than 
deceiving.  But  all  the  members  of  this  religion  are  bound 
up  in  a  system  of  lies,  against  which  they  are  themselves 
helpless.  It  must  not  be  said  that  everything  in  animistic 
heathenism  is  lies.  Then  it  would  be  altogether  inaccessible 
to  Divine  truth.  The  loving,  searching  eye  of  the  people's 
friend  will  discover  many  scattered  rays  of  light  and  a  keen 
desire  for  clearness.  But  the  true  thoughts,  fettered  and  all 
but  ruled  out  of  the  religious  life,  are  reduced  in  their  influ- 
ence to  a  minimum.  The  idea  of  God  still  exists,  but  has 
no  meaning  to  the  Animist ;  it  is  held  down  by  the  ideas 
about  spirits  and  souls.  The  lie  proves  stronger  than  the 
budding  shoots  of  higher  ideas. 

What  has  Animism  made  of  God,  the  holy  and  gracious 
Creator  and  Governor  of  the  world  ?  It  has  divested  Him 
of  His  omnipotence,  His  love,  His  holiness  and  righteous- 
ness, and  has  put  Him  out  of  all  relation  with  men.  The 
idea  of  God  has  become  a  mere  decoration ;  his  worship 
a  caricature.  Spirits  inferior  to  men,  whose  very  well-being 
is  dependent  on  men's  moods,  are  feared  instead  of  the 
Almighty  ;  the  rule  of  an  inexorable  fate  is  substituted  for 
the  wise  and  good  government  of  God.  Absurd  lies  are 
believed  concerning  the  life  after  death,  and  efforts  are  made 
to  master  the  malevolent  spirits  by  a  childish  magic. 

Animistic  heathenism  deceives  its  adherents  about  the 
worth  of  life  and  the  way  to  happiness.  It  plants  in  their 
minds  a  false  estimate  of  temporal  good  and  natural  life, 
putting  earthly  values  in  the  first  place  and  God  in  the  last. 
It  declares  that  health,  abundance  of  children,  property  and 
power  constitutes  man's  happiness,  and  any  means  of  obtain- 
ing them  is  good.  The  heathen  is  deceived  here  in  the  same 
way  as  the  drunkard,  who  is  persuaded  by  his  passion  that 
drink   must  bring   him   rest.     It  is   the  same  lying  power 


90        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

which,  in  opposition  to  the  clear  Word  of  God,  persuades  us 
that  riches  and  might  are  happiness,  although  it  is  manifest 
that  they  are  not.  The  lie  promises  "  life  "  to  the  heathen, 
if  he  observes  the  animistic  commands  and  prohibitions, 
cultivates  his  soul,  ruthlessly  treads  down  all  others,  and 
keeps  the  spirits  in  good  humour.1 

Animistic  heathenism  deludes  man  as  to  the  worth  of  his 
personality,  of  that  within  him  which  is  Divine.     It  deprives 
him  of  his  freedom,  his  personal  spiritual  life,  and  degrades 
him  to  a  will-less,  thoughtless  member  of  a  flock  of  cattle. 
Who   is   it   that   gains   the   promised    "life"?      The   most 
diligent  idolater,    in   exchange   for   his  sacrifices   and   con- 
scientious observance  of  usages  and  prohibitions,  only  gets 
an  increased  sense  of  fear.     The  result  of  the  restless  search 
for  God  is  a  growing  estrangement  from  God.     The  heathen 
is  religious,  and  without  meaning  it  he  is  constantly  blas- 
pheming God.     The  thoughtful  man  sees  that  he  has  been 
deceived  in  his  wishes,  hopes,  offerings,  prayers,  and  acts  of 
worship.     No  promise  is  ever  redeemed.     It  is   not   mere 
error   into   which  the  poor  Animist  has  fallen  ;  a   positive 
lying   power   has    mastered   the    ignorant.      Left   to   itself 
heathenism  might  have  lost  God  and  neglected  His  worship. 
But  it  could  not  have  created  such  a  caricature  of  religion 
for  its  own  torment,  unless  some  lying  evil  power,   taking 
advantage  of  its  ignorance,  had  painted  for  it  a  picture  of 
God,  and  of  the  world  which  leads  the  heathen  far  away 
from  all  he  seeks.     Animists  believe  that  they  have  God, 
and  they  have  lost  Him  ;  they  believe  that  they  are  hunting 
for  life,  and  they  find  death ;    they  believe   that  they  are 
serving  God  and  are  His  opponents.     In  this  sense  Paul  says 
of  the  heathen  that  they  are  carried  away  to  dumb  idols 
even  as  they  are  led.     They  give  the  impression  of  a  people 
who  are  misled  and  deceived  in  the  most  shameful  fashion, 
and  who  all  the  while  believe  absolutely  in  the  lies  by  which 
they  are  being  hypnotised. 

1  If  you  show  the  Battak  the  folly  of  his  idolatry,  you  will  always  get 
the  answer :  Is  it  not  life  that  we  are  seeking  in  this  way  ?  This  answer, 
which  is  seriously  meant,  covers  the  hasest  cruelties. 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM      91 

The  lying  power  has  also  brought  about  an  inconceivable 
perversion  of  moral  ideas.     It  represents  to   the  Animist : 
"  You  are  not  responsible    for   your   action,   for   God    has 
created  you  as  you  are,"  the  blame  of  all  human   short- 
comings  being  thus  thrown  upon  the  holy  God.      The  lie 
kills  man's  belief  in  his  moral  freedom  ;  and  it  condemns  his 
will,  the  divinest  of  God's  gifts,  to  impotence.     The  bad  is 
declared  good ;  the  most  vulgar  egoism  is  made  the  sum  of 
the  commandments.     The  lie  is  all  the  more  dangerous  in 
that  it  is  mixed  with    elements  of  truth.      Murder,   theft, 
adultery  and  faithlessness  seem  to  be  condemned,  and  there 
are  abundant  moral  proverbs  which  would  lead  one  to  infer 
fine  moral  feeling.1     But  these  proverbs  do  not  truly  reflect 
the  moral  condition  of  the  people.     Wickedness  and  vulgarity 
are  praised  and  practised  without  compunction.     Harmless 
things,  such  as  offences  against  politeness,  are  reckoned  sins, 
while  stealing,  leaving  the  sick  to  perish  in  their  misery, 
robbing  widows  and  orphans  of  their  goods,   torturing  to 
death  the  defenceless  and  such  like,  are  not  deemed  wrong. 
Human    sacrifices,    head-hunting,    cannibalism    and    brutal 
cruelty  are  pious  exercises  of  religion,  part  of  the  ritual  of 
spirit  worship.     What  a  fearful  power  of  falsehood  is  here 
that  can  thus  turn  upside  down  their  ideas  of  good  and  evil, 
and  rob  them  of  all  moral  sense. 

The  hypnotising  power  of  the  lie  is  manifest  in  the 
fraudulent  trade  of  the  magician.  They  know  and  admit 
that  the  magician  is  an  arch-knave  who  deceives  wherever 
anything  is  to  be  gained,  but  they  are  afraid  of  his  mysterious 
art,  and  they  neither  desire  nor  deem  it  possible  to  be  freed 

1  Here  are  some  Battak  proverbs.  The  empty  ear  of  rice  stands  erect,  the 
full  one  bends  low.  Pride  is  the  beginning  of  destruction,  politeness  is  life, 
insolence  is  ruin.  When  his  wrath  is  rising  a  man  does  not  think  of  destruc- 
tion. Do  not  strike  the  man  who  treats  you  with  consideration,  and  do  not 
fall  upon  him  who  is  coming  to  meet  you.  You  will  not  lose  by  giving  to 
one  who  begs  ;  the  rising  sun  cannot  be  arrested  ;  there  is  a  reason  for  a 
man  being  lost,  a  cause  for  his  going  to  the  bottom  ;  nothing  but  evil  comes 
from  contention  ;  money  got  through  robbery  vanisheth.  There  are  also 
moral  fables  which  treat  of  charity,  fidelity,  pity,  and  gratitude,  and  which 
would  do  honour  to  Gellert.  The  Niassers  have  similar  proverbs  with  the 
same  low  state  of  morality. 


92        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

from  the  enchantment  of  his  influence.1  They  turn  to  him 
again  even  when  his  avarice  and  deception  have  become 
notorious.  The  tying  sway  of  the  magicians  presses  more 
heavily  on  the  adherents  of  the  African  religions  than  in  the 
Indian  Archipelago.  Bohner  the  missionary  denies  their 
claim  to  supernatural  powers,  and  regards  them  as  shameless 
charlatans.2  And  yet  the  degraded  people  submit  without 
a  murmur  to  their  lying  rule.  These  mischiefmakers  are 
called  as  deliverers  in  cases  of  sickness  or  misfortune,  and 
information  is  expected  about  the  life  after  death  from  pro- 
fessional liars,  simply  because  they  pretend  to  be  in  com- 
munion with  the  other  world.  The  oracle  of  the  spirits 
through  their  media  ;  is  it  not  like  a  caricature  of  revelation  ? 
Deceived  grossly  a  thousand  times,  the  animistic  heathen  are 
willing  to  be  deceived  again  and  again.  About  fourteen  years 
ago,  there  appeared  in  Battak  land  a  wonderful  deceiver,  Guru 
Somalaing,  who  dressed  up  a  fantastic  mixture  of  heathenism, 
Mohammedanism,  Protestant  and  Catholic  dogmas  ;  he  sent 
forth  silly  oracles  concerning  himself,  declaring  that  he  was 
a  worker  of  miracles  ;  he  was  a  liar  of  the  most  vulgar  kind. 
The  Battak  Christians  mocked  him,  but  the  heathen  ran  to 
him  in  thousands  ;  willingly  they  gave  him  money  and  cattle  ; 
they  stood  in  the  pouring  rain  while  he  declared  it  was  not 
raining.  And  to-day,  when  all  his  prophecies  have  been 
proved  false,  and  he  himself  banished  by  the  Dutch  Colonial 
Government,  many  of  his  adherents  still  cling  to  him.  One 
gets  the  impression  that  the  heathen  are  attracted  magneti- 
cally by  lies  ;  that  having  forsaken  God  they  have  to  pay 
tribute  to  every  deceiver.  A  heathen  negro  in  Suriname 
admitted  :  "  You  serve  the  truth  and  we  serve  lies.  The  lie 
always  gains  increasing  power  over  us,  even  when  we  do  not 
wish  it.     When  we  are  in  distress  we  turn  again  to  the  lie."  3 

1  The  Battaks  admit  that  they  are  shorn  in  the  most  shameless  way  by  the 
magic  priest,  hut  stupidly  retort,  What  can  we  do,  we  cannot  refuse  to  call 
him. 

2  Bohner,  "  Im  Lande  des  Fetischs."  Spieth  also  convicted  the  magician 
in  Tobo  of  many  gross  deceptions,  e.g.,  in  the  judgment  of  God. 

3  The  Niassers  believe  the  magic  priest  when  he  offers  them  the  wildest 
lies.     In  Nusoor,  New  Guinea,  deceivers  sometimes  appear,  pretending  to  be 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM      93 

Deceived  and  defrauded  in  their  religion  the  heathen  are 
themselves  given  over  to  lying.     They  seem  to  have  lost  the 
sense  for  truth  and  honesty.     It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  of 
the  heathen  of  the  Indian  Archipelago  that   they  are    all 
masters  in  the  art  of  lying.     Lying  is  to  them  synonymous 
with  cleverness.     There  are  many  virtues  to  be  found  among 
heathen  peoples,  but  hardly  anywhere  a  love  of  truth.     The 
Battaks  cannot  understand  that  lies  are  dishonourable.     If 
you  convict  a  Battak  of  a  lie,  which  is  really  a  very  difficult 
thing,  because  he  is  so  adroit,  he  will  laugh  heartily  and 
think  "you  are  more  crafty  than  I."     At  every  step  one  is 
told  impudent  falsehoods,  so  that  one  comes  to  disbelieve 
every  heathen.     The  missionaries  among  the  otherwise  lov- 
able Niassers  have  the  same  experience.     "  These  Niassers 
are  shocking  liars,  so  that  one  is  gradually  forced  to  distrust 
every  one  of  them,  and  even  every  word."     Without  a  quiver 
of  the  eyelid  they  will  use  the  deepest  curses  to  confirm  their 
lies.      It  is  the  same  with   the  Dayaks  on  Borneo.      The 
peoples  of  the  Indian  Archipelago  are  quite  infamous  for 
their  mendacity.     The  same  is  the  case  with  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Talaut  Islands.     It  is  said  of  the  people  of  Haruku, 
With  a  countenance  of  the  utmost  indifference  they  will  tell 
an  untruth  so  gross  and  shameful  that  you  smite  your  hands 
in  astonishment,  and,  if  necessary,  they  are  ready  at  once 
to  confirm  the  lie  with  an  oath.     The  Papuan,  although  he 
says   lying    is   bad,   looks   upon    it   as    a   fine    art.     He   is 
dexterous  in  every  kind  of  deception,  and  is  a  master  in 
stealing. 

the  expected  Mangguiidi,  who  is  to  bring  a  happy  life  free  from  labour. 
Everything  they  say  is  believed,  even  when  they  declare  that  they  can  raise 
the  dead.  Though  disappointment  always  follows,  they  are  ready  to  believe 
the  next  deceiver.  An  experience  which  Spieth  had  on  Togo  shows  how 
willing  the  heathen  are  to  be  deceived.  A  man  in  Ho,  in  order  to  put  a 
celebrated  magician  to  the  proof,  came  to  him  pretending  to  be  ill.  He 
smeared  his  leg  with  dirt  and  declared  that  the  leg  was  badly  injured.  The 
magician  declared  it  to  be  incurable,  as  he  had  got  it  from  a  diseased  person 
in  the  pre-existent  state.  The  man  then  took  off  the  bandages  and  showed 
the  confused  magician  that  his  leg  was  quite  sound.  The  spectators,  how- 
ever, far  from  being  convinced  of  the  deception  of  the  magician,  drove  away 
the  man  because  he  had  tempted  God  and  measured  his  strength  with  God 


94        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

We  are  told  that  Ranawalona  I.,  the  anti-Christian  King  of 
Madagascar,  whose  inhabitants  are  partly  of  the  Malay  stock, 
among  the  grievances  which  he  had  against  the  Christians, 
brought  forward  their  unintelligible  truthfulness.  In  the 
Edict  it  is  said  :  "  The  answer  you  give  in  taking  an  oath  is, 
'  It  is  true.'  When  you  are  asked,  '  Do  you  swear,'  your  answer 
is,  '  It  is  true  ' — that  surprises  me.  What  do  you  mean  by  this 
word  true?"  Eppler  adds  this  comment:  To  the  people  of 
Madagascar,  among  whom  a  lie  is  a  great  virtue  and  wisdom, 
it  was  certainly  quite  incomprehensible  and  incredible.  The 
Herero  and  Nama  are  shameless  liars.  The  Kaffirs  are 
masters  in  lying,  and  it  is  almost  impossible  for  a  European 
to  convict  a  Kaffir  unless  he  has  convincing  proof  in  his 
hand.  The  man  who  speaks  the  truth  makes  himself 
ridiculous.  The  missionary  Rbssler  declares  that  every  word 
of  the  Shambala  of  East  Africa  is  a  lie.  An  african  chief  does 
not  know  the  truth,  as  it  is  one  of  his  princely  privileges  to 
be  at  liberty  to  lie.  Sebuschane  says  of  them  :  "  You  must 
put  the  same  value  on  the  saying  of  a  chief  as  you  do  on  the 
bellowing  of  an  ox.  The  Betschuans  are  all  untruthful. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  Bismarck  Archipelago  are  all  notorious 
liars  and  thieves.  But  lying  prevails  in  other  religions 
besides  the  animistic.  An  Indian  proverb  says  thirty-two 
lies  a  day  or  an  empty  stomach.  The  Hindus  lie  whenever 
they  open  their  mouths,  and  can  hardly  speak  one  word  of 
truth.  It  is  a  grievous  sin  for  them  to  kill  an  animal,  but  no 
sin  to  tell  a  lie.  Gloyer  declares  of  the  Indians :  "  The 
heathen  have  been  deceived  and  defrauded  from  their  youth, 
and  that  has  made  their  hearts  untruthful." 1  Lying  and 
deception  are  among  the  national  sins  of  the  Chinese.2 
These  testimonies  could  easily  be  increased.  Mendacity, 
lack  of  the  sense  of  truthfulness  and  honesty,  is  a  feature 

1  A  peculiar  light  is  thrown  on  the  much-boasted  religiousness  of  the 
Hindu  by  their  appalling  and  shameless  lying.  "By  their  fruits  ye  shall 
know  them." 

2  I  have  never  known  a  heathen  on  whose  word  I  could  put  any  reliance. 
A  Chinese  is  never  more  in  his  element  than  when  uttering  a  shameless  lie. 
A  lie  to  them  is  exactly  what  an  appropriate  answer  is  to  us  (Griffith 
John). 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM      95 

that  we  come  upon  with  striking  unanimity  everywhere 
in  animistic  heathenism,  and  also  far  beyond  its  limits. 
Mendacity  is  not  merely  a  national  sin  of  this  or  that  people, 
but  might  be  said  to  be  a  natural  and  necessary  manifestation 
of  heathenism. 

The  result  of  this  atmosphere  of  falsehood  is  universal 
distrust.  No  one  can  trust  his  fellow.  The  father  distrusts 
the  son,  the  son  distrusts  the  father.  Behind  every  word 
they  scent  a  lie  ;  behind  every  movement  treachery.  Hence, 
an  oath  is  demanded  in  every  protestation,  in  every  dispute 
a  judgment  of  God.  Nothing  but  the  fear  of  the  vengeance 
of  dark  powers  can  make  any  one  speak  the  truth.  The  lie 
is  all  the  deeper  rooted  in  the  life  of  the  people  that  their 
religion  is  pervaded  by  it.  The  spirits  are  more  dexterous 
liars  and  deceivers  than  the  living.  Even  the  ancestors,  who, 
in  a  certain  sense,  take  a  benevolent  interest  in  the  fate  of 
their  descendants,  are  not  to  be  trusted.  Hence,  and  this  is 
the  climax  of  the  habit  of  lying,  the  deities  are  deceived  in 
their  very  worship.1  Lying  and  cheating  are  not  wrong, 
but  exhibitions  of  skill  when  it  is  a  matter  of  gaining  an 
advantage.  The  deities  and  demons  also  deceive.  As  the  man 
so  are  his  gods,  and  as  the  gods  so  are  their  worshippers. 

There  is  much  untruthfulness  in  Christendom  certainly, 
and  falsehood  has  become  a  sad  power,  even  in  the  German 
nation.  But,  in  spite  of  its  power  over  individuals,  the 
Christian  conscience  of  the  nation  is  against  it.  Lying  is  in 
direct  contradiction  to  Christian  feeling,  and  so  long  as  the 
people  hold  to  Christianity  it  will  not  avail  to  poison  social , 
relations.  But  animistic  heathenism  furnishes  the  lie  with 
papers  of  legitimation,  for  it  belongs  to  the  system.  It  is 
not  merely  individuals  who  lie,  everybody  does  so  without 
any  public  conscience  reacting  against  it.  The  reason  is,  that 
animistic  religion  is  itself  a  lie.  Whatever  trueideas  it  conr 
tains  in  no  way  changes  that.  Truth  is  only  where  there  is 
a  right  relation  to  God.     Heathenism  has  perverted  the  rela- 

1  A  Battak  heathen,  whom  a  missionary  called  to  account  for  his  wicked- 
ness, and  pointed  to  the  final  judgment  of  God,  answered,  "I  will  play  God 
a  trick." 


96        THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

tion  to  God ;  it  is  thereby  placed  on  a  false  basis,  and  given 
up  to  lies.  The  perversion  of  the  relation  to  God  has  made 
religious  worship,  prayer,  morality,  all  the  relations  of  men 
to  each  other,  and  to  the  surrounding  world,  inwardly  false. 
Nothing  but  a  relation  of  man  to  God,  grounded  on  truth, 
can  make  human  life  true.  But  heathenism  has  not  this 
true  foundation,  and  so  does  not  know  the  way  to  truth.  It 
cannot  of  itself  overcome  this  power  of  falsehood.  God  alone 
can  give  back  to  people  thus  misled  the  truth  which  they 
have  lost. 

Heathenism  is  Godlessness,  and  cannot  but  be  given  up  to 
the  dominion  of  lies.  We  do  not  mean  by  that,  that  God  is 
an  unknown  conception  in  Animism,  and  that  there  is  no 
attraction  towards  Him.  A  longing  and  seeking  for  God 
runs  through  the  animistic  heathen  world  like  a  vein  of  gold 
in  the  dirty  rock.  Spite  of  all  polytheistic,  spiritistic  or 
pantheistic  overgrowths,  there  is  no  heathen  religion  in  which 
there  does  not  lie  hid  some  dim  presentiment  of  a  deity  who 
is  of  greater  importance  than  all  other  deities  and  spirits. 
Religious  questions  are  the  real  impelling  powers  which 
determine  the  development  of  life  in  animistic  heathendom. 
And  those  mission-workers,  who  are  unable  to  discover  ideas 
of  God  in  heathenism,  amid  all  its  errors,  commit  a  serious 
mistake. 

Everywhere  in  the  Indian  Archipelago  we  come  upon  the 
idea  of  a  supreme  Deity  behind  the  motley  multitude  of 
gods  and  demons.  We  have  already  seen  how  the  Battaks 
thought  of  Debata  (God)  as  above  the  five  upper  gods  and 
the  host  of  nature  deities  and  spirits.1  However  little  they 
trouble  themselves  about  this  vague  idea,  yet  their  religious 
feeling  is  rooted  in  it.  We  are  also  assured  that  other  poly- 
theistic peoples  feel  this  drawing  to  God.  The  negroes 
of  Central,  and  West  Coast,  Africa,  as  well  as  the  Kaffirs, 
know  of  a  supreme  God.  The  Supreme  Being  worshipped 
by  the  Ewe  negro  is  called  Mawu,  "  He  who  is  excelled  by 
nothing."     An  old  chief  said  to  the  missionary  Spieth,  "  If 

P.  34. 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM      97 

there  is  any  one  in  my  village  who  does  not,  every  morning 
on  rising  from  his  mat,  pour  out  water  on  the  earth  and  say, 
'  0,  God  Sodza,  possessor  of  flesh,  grant  me  this  day  my  food, 
and  grant  that  I  remain  in  life,'  he  is  not  a  man.  When  we 
go  to  the  field  to  break  up  the  soil  with  the  hoe  we  say 
beforehand,  '  Mawu,  God.' '  But  the  worship  of  the  Supreme 
God  is  thrust  into  the  background  by  the  lower  gods  and 
demons.  The  Washamba  are  aware  of  a  Supreme  God,  also 
the  Waganda,  the  Congo  negro,  the  Sudan  negro,  the  Herero, 
the  people  of  Madagascar,  and  the  Bush  negroes  of  Suriname. 
Speaking  from  his  own  experience  among  the  Kols  Jelling- 
haus  says,  "  I  have  come  to  see  more  and  more  that  all 
heathen  know  that  God  is,  and  that  if  a  dozen  heathen  of 
the  most  diverse  kinds  were  to  find  themselves  among 
Mohammedans  or  Christians,  and  to  listen  to  their  talk 
about  God  and  God's  dispensations,  it  would  seem  to  them 
as  self-evident  that  God  is  one  and  the  same  for  all,  as  that 
there  is  only  one  sun.  This  God,  Singbonga,  is  alone  the 
true  God,  whose  existence  the  heart  of  the  Kol  is  still 
capable  of  feeling.  But  this  inherited  faith  exercises  little 
influence  on  the  life." 

These  testimonies  could  be  increased  to  any  extent  from 
books  on  the  history  of  religion,  and  from  missionary  litera- 
ture. Stosch,  in  summing  up  the  results  of  his  inquiry,  says: 
"The  unity  of  God  is  part  of  the  contents  of  the  natural 
conscience.  In  spite  of  all  pantheistic  and  polytheistic 
obscurings,  in  spite  of  all  confusion  of  erroneous  belief  and 
fear  of  demons,  a  remnant  of  the  consciousness  of  God  has 
been  preserved  among  all  peoples.  And  this  remnant  is 
capable  of  life." 

This  belief  in  God  must  not,  of  course,  be  called  mono-, 
theism.  It  is  not  the  possession  of  the  one  God,  but  a  mere 
dim  perception  shining  through  the  haze  of  belief  in  spirits, 
a  dim  memory  of  something  better  than  the  present,  and 
a  longing  for  it  that  mostly  does  not  even  become  conscious. 
The  presentiment  of  God  scarcely  influences  religious  thought, 
and  has  no  influence  at  all  on  the  religious  shaping  of  the 
life,  though  it  is  in  contradiction  with  present-day  religious 

G 


98       THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

practices.  One  has  no  interest  in  the  unknown  God.  The 
heart  of  the  heathen  is  like  a  palimpsest,  the  original  writing 
of  which  is  written  over  and  become  unseen.  No  one  knows 
anything  of  the  words  of  wisdom  covered  over  there.1 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  this  purer  idea  of  God  could  be 
gained  only  after  long  development.  Beginning  with  animistic 
beliefs  the  peoples  advanced,  under  the  pressure  of  fear,  to  the 
worship  of  animals  and  ancestors  ;  from  that  to  the  worship 
of  nature,  out  of  which  grew  the  gods ;  and  then,  through 
a  richer  polytheism,  they  worked  their  way  up  to  the  gradually 
refined  idea  of  the  one  God.  This  hypothesis  contradicts 
the  picture  of  real  heathenism  which  every  one  gets,  from 
familiarity  with  it,  who  does  not  look  at  it  through  coloured 
spectacles.  The  idea  of  God  is  not  a  development  from  spirit 
worship,  but  is  a  contradiction  of  any  such  development.  It 
is  a  foreign  body  in  the  animistic  world  of  beliefs.  It  is 
opposed  to  the  nature  deities,  to  the  conception  of  the  soul 
as  an  all-matter,  to  demons  and  ancestors  who  have  taken 
the  power  out  of  God's  hands.  It  is  opposed  also  to  the 
inexorable  fate  which  banishes  God  from  the  world,  that  is 
to  say,  it  is  opposed  to  all  the  factors  that  determine  the 
animistic  religious  life.  When  we  see  how  the  heathenism  of 
to-day  rejects  the  idea  of  God ;  how  the  whole  religious 
machinery  is  driven  by  the  demons ;  how  the  priests,  the 
leaders  of  the  religious  life,  mock  the  original  ideas  of  religion 
by  magic  and  barter ;  how  all  things  are  brought  under  the 
ban  of  a  deadening  tradition,  and  how  no  one  among  them 
really  digs  deeper  or  strives  further ; — when  we  see  all  this 
we  cannot  believe  that  it  is  a  process  of  development  that  is 
going  on,  but  rather  a  process  of  decomposition. 

How  do  we  know  that  the  original  beginnings  of  human 
religion  are  contained  in  Animism  and  demon  worship  ?  The 
judgment  of  Soderblom  is :  "  We  must  not  believe  that  the 
religion  of  the  lower  uncivilised  peoples  and  tribes  is  a 
faithful    picture   of    the   earliest    religion.       Though    these 

1  Cf.  Jellinghaus,  "Die  Kols,"  p.  64  Amn.  :  "The  common  essence  of 
heathenism  is  not  a  denying  of  God  .  .  .  hut  an  ignoring  of  Him  in  the 
worship  of  natural  powers  and  mysterious  demonic  powers  through  magic 
and  magical  sacrifices  and  ceremonies." 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM      99 

peoples  have  no  history,  yet  many  thousands  of  years  have 
not  passed  over  them  and  left  no  trace.    In  some  cases  it  can 
plainly  be  seen  that  their  usages  and  beliefs  mark  a  fall  from 
a  more  childlike,  but  purer  and  stronger,  religious  conception. 
That  is  especially  the  case  with  those  tribes  and  peoples 
among  whom  sorcery  and  magic  have  completely  stifled  the 
religious  sense  of  reverence  and  trust."     If  the  spirit  worship 
that  prevails  among  the  Animists  were  the  oldest  religion  of 
mankind  from  which  every  other  religion  was  developed  by 
a  long   and   laborious   process,   how  could   these  religions, 
which  represent  the  initial  stage  of  development,  derive  any 
nourishment,  in  that  initial  stage,  from  the  idea  of  a  supreme 
God,  who,  ex  hypothese,  should  be  the  last  member  of  a 
long  series  of  acquisitions  laboriously  won.     Why  does  the 
Indonesian,  when  in  great  distress,  flee  to  God,  of  whom, 
according  to  that  hypothesis,  he  should  have  no  knowledge 
whatever.     How  is  it  that,  in  taking  an  oath,  the  Animist 
appeals  to  God.    That  is  forestalling  his  development  indeed. 
It  is  a  fact  that  he  has  the  idea  of  God ;  but  the  fact  that 
this  idea  is  but  dimly  apprehended  proves  that  we  are  not 
dealing  with  a  new  idea  victoriously  opening  up  new  paths. 
The  idea  of  God  has  proven  unfruitful  in  the  development 
of  their  moral  and  religious  life.     It  is  like  a  precious,  but 
fragile,  ornament  packed  away  in  the  very  bottom  of  a  trunk, 
which  the  members  of  the  family  scarcely  ever  see  and  which 
they  never  use.     The  Animism  of  to-day  gives  us  the  impres- 
sjon  of  a  religion  that  carries  the  marks  of  a  fall,   of  a 
worship  no  longer  understood  and  become  an  empty  cere- 
mony.    Former  generations   reflected   on   problems   of  the 
supernatural;   they  clothed   in    myths  and  names  of   gods 
their  astonished  reverential  thoughts  about  the  inconceivable 
powers  of  sun  and  earth.     But  now  they  repose  listlessly  on 
the  inheritance  of  the  fathers,  and  scarcely  a  trace  of  reverence 
can  be  found.1 

1  It  seems  probable,  at  any  rate,  that  there  must  have  been  a  time  when 
our  Shambala  had  a  better  understanding  of  the  meaning  and  significance  of 
all  the  formulas  and  ceremonies  which  they  now  thoughtlessly  use.  The 
original  essence  of  the  religion  of  the  Kamba  did  not  consist  in  this  belief  in 
spirits  and  its  religious  practices.     That  is  not  only  proved  by  the  fact  that 


100      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

The  Battaks  have  been  deeply  influenced  by  the  Hindus 
who  ruled  the  coasts  of  Sumatra.     That  is  proved  by  their 
language,  which  is  mixed  with    Sanscrit  words  ;    by  their 
writing,  which  springs  from  the  same  source ;  by  the  names 
of  the  gods  and  the  remains  of  some  temples.     Now  should 
not   the   higher  Indian   religion   have   fructified   the   lower 
Battak   one   had   that   lower   religion   been    in   a   state    of 
development?     But  that  has  in  no  way  taken  place.     On 
the  contrary,  the  Battak  Animism  has  dragged  down  to  its 
lower  level  the  ideas  of  God  imported  from   India.     The 
words  that  were  taken  direct  from  the  Sanscrit  have  entered 
into    the   service    of    sorcery.       All    deeper   thoughts   have 
perished.     Mohammedanism  even,   with  its  higher  idea  of 
God,   cannot   introduce   into   the   heathenism   which   it  in- 
fluences   any   development    for   the   better.      The   heathen, 
who    have    passed    over    to    Islam,    quietly    retain    their 
demon  worship.     Instead  of  the  purer  idea  of  God  raising 
them,    they   drag   it    down    to    their    own    filth,    a    proof 
of    the    tremendous    down-drag    which    animistic    religions 

possess. 

Many  heathen  peoples  have  legendary  reminiscences  of 
a  better  state  of  things  when  men  were  in  intercourse 
with  God,  and  were  happier  than  they  now  are.  Even- 
savages  of  a  low  type  dream  of  a  vanished  golden  age. 
We  have  already  mentioned  that  the  Battaks  believe  that 
heaven  was  once  nearer  and  more  accessible  than  it  now 
is.  The  Niassers  call  the  second  of  the  eight  stories 
which  are  found  above  the  earth  the  golden,  whence  came 
their  forefathers.  The  natives  of  Molucca,  the  Toradja  on 
Celebes,  the  Olongadju   on   Borneo,   maintain  that  heaven 

unintelligent  observance  of  ceremonies  and  symbolical  acts  is  always  a  sign 
of  religious  decadence,  but  is  confirmed  by  the  previous  existence  of  a  purer 
idea  of  God,  the  Almighty  Creator  of  heaven  and  of  earth  (Brutzer).  The 
worship  of  the  gods  in  the  upper  world  and  that  of  the  forces  of  nature,  in  a 
word,  the  mythological  worship  of  God,  is  driven  into  the  background  by  the 
worship  of  ancestors.  That  is  undoubtedly  a  retrogression.  It  means  that 
the  worship  has  never  risen  to  a  feeling  that  could  satisfy  the  heart.  It  is 
as  if  the  cultus  could  never  raise  itself  above  fear  and  awe  (Adriani,  "  Mitt.l 
Celebes,"  p.  52). 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM    101 

was  formerly  nearer  earth.  The  same  belief  is  also  found 
in  the  South  Sea.  The  Kols  declare  that  men  at  first 
were  innocent,  and  became  wicked  later.  Singbonga 
therefore  sent  a  great  flood,  which  destroyed  all  men  save 
two.1  A  legend  of  the  Alfurus  in  Minahassa  tells  that 
formerly  the  gods  maintained  active  intercourse  with  men, 
and  the  earth  was  full  of  blessing  till  the  guilt  of  a  daring 
man  brought  all  intercourse  to  an  end ;  now  one  vainly 
seeks  for  any  trace  of  that  blessing  on  the  earth.  The 
Toradja  declare  that  in  former  days  men  did  not  die. 
When  they  became  old  they  simply  got  a  new  skin,  like 
the  serpents,  and  with  it  a  new  life  and  youthful  powers. 
Papuan  legends  tell  of  a  time  when  men  lived  in  heaven, 
and  there  was  neither  sickness  nor  death.  But  having 
been  persuaded  by  a  gigantic  lizard  to  descend  to  this 
world,  they  could  not  return,  and  became  the  prey  of 
death.  The  Ewe  negroes  declare  that  men  in  olden 
times  lived  longer  and  were  more  happy.  Heaven  was 
then  quite  near  to  earth,  but  God  moved  heaven  far 
away,  because  men,  after  eating,  wiped  their  dirty  fingers 
on  heaven,  and  struck  God  in  the  face  with  their  im- 
plements, or,  according  to  another  tradition,  molested 
Him  with  smoke.  Those  legends  express  grief  for  a  lost 
good. 

In  former  days  there  were  no  priests  as  mediators  between 
gods,  spirits,  and  men.  Their  appearance  upon  the  scene 
relieves  the  individual  of  the  necessity  of  dealing  with  the 
deities.  The  priest  undertakes  that  for  all.  But  super- 
stition is  intensified  thereby,  and  heathenism  poisoned  by 
sorcery  and  magic.  Formerly,  when  each  man  was  his  own 
priest,  religion  was  simpler  and  religious  exercises  more 
inward,  because  more  a  personal  matter.  The  appearance 
of  the  priest  and  magician,  to  whom  the  work  of  divine 
worship  is  now  committed,  and  from  whom  all  religious 
knowledge  is  obtained,  bears  witness  to  a  lowering  of 
religious  needs. 

1  A  legend  of  a  flood  is  found  among  many  peoples,  such  as  the  Karens,  the 
Santah,  the  Papuans,  the  Sambesi. 


M      THE  LTVTNC  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

The  study  of  heathen  language  also  makes  us  see  that 
the  religions  of  uncivilised  peoples  are  not  struggling 
upwards,  but  are  degenerating.  The  religious  vocabulary 
of  the  Battak  language  is  very  rich,  but  in  part  so  obsolete 
that  even  the  priests  do  not  altogether  understand  it.  The 
religious  ideas  which  those  terms  express  must  have  been 
richer  in  earlier  days.  The  heathenism  of  to-day  manages 
to  get  on  with  a  reduced  capital  of  words.  The  result  to 
which  Biittner  was  led  by  the  study  of  the  languages  of 
Africa  is  that  everything  which  can  be  regarded  as  traditional 
custom  proves  that  these  people  are  still  going  down,  and 
that  their  former  condition  was  relatively  more  perfect. 
Thus  we  find  that  in  repeated  attempts  to  fix  the  existing 
vocabulary,  many  of  those  missing  higher  ideas  were  existent 
in  former  times,  and  many  such  words,  almost  vanished  from 
general  speech,  are  yet  found  at  times  in  the  mouths  of 
old  people. 

The  history  of  all  heathen  religions  is  the  history  of  their 
fall !  Stosch,  speaking  of  the  higher  religions  of  India,  says  : 
"  In  the  religions  of  civilised  peoples,  whose  documents  reach 
back  many  thousands  of  years,  there  is  perceptible  the  law 
of  a  development  which  is  not  to  life  but  to  death.  They 
move  not  in  ascending  but  in  descending  lines.  In  earlier 
times  pantheism  had  brighter  colours.  There  was  in  it 
something  of  a  longing  for  the  light.  Now  its  colours  are 
darker,  and  the  longing  for  the  light,  though  still  there, 
/  has  become  more  hopeless.  Any  one  who  studies  the 
pantheism  prevalent  in  India  to-day  will  find  himself  in 
presence  of  the  dark  world  of  demons.  In  earlier  times  the 
^religion  seemed  only  to  play  with  this  world.  Now  it  has 
fallen  into  its  power.  It  would  be  a  great  mistake  to 
suppose  that  it  is  only  some  of  the  lower  castes  who  have 
yielded  to  demon-worship.  All  religious  usages  are  ruled 
by  it  more  or  less,  especially  the  public  worship.  Indian 
pantheism  has  thus  been  transformed  into  a  spectre  pro- 
ducing fear  and  dread.  The  decadence  can  hardly  go 
deeper.  To-day  efforts  are  being  made  in  India  to  bring 
in  again  the  religion  of  earlier  days ;  that  is  the  best  proof 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM    103 

that  the  original  religion  is  believed  to  have  been  purer  than 
that  of  the  present."  * 

The  Buddhism  of  to-day  also  is  not  what  it  once  was. 
In  further  India,  nay,  even  in  Ceylon,  in  Thibet,  China  and 
Japan  it  has,  in  order  to  maintain  its  existence,  entered  into 
an  unhappy  union  with  the  nature  religions  of  the  peoples 
it  has  influenced,  and  has  approved  their  worship  of  idols 
and  ancestors.  Confucius  did  not  see  anything  in  the  old 
Chinese  religion  that  could  be  improved  by  development, 
but  desired  to  conserve  the  old,  which  he  deemed  the  more 
perfect.  Reformers  of  a  religion  have  something  of  the 
prophet  about  them.  They  are  not  the  natural  fruits  of  the 
development  that  is  inherent  in  the  religion,  but  men  who 
set  themselves  to  resist  its  degeneration.  Every  reformer 
and  the  reformation  for  which  he  fought  is  followed  by  a 
relapse.  All  human  religions  obey  the  law  of  the  attraction 
of  the  earth.2 

A  dispassionate  study  of  heathen  religions  confirms  the 
view  of  Paul  that  heathenism  is  a  fall  from  a  better  know- 
ledge of  God.  In  earlier  days  humanity  had  a  greater 
treasure  of  spiritual  goods.  But  the  knowledge  of  God's 
eternal  power  and  divinity  was  neglected.  The  Almighty 
was  no  longer  feared  or  worshipped ;  dependence  upon  Him 
was  renounced;  and  this  downward  course  was  continued 
till  nothing  but  a  dim  presentiment  of  Him  was  left.  The 
creature  stepped  into  the  place  of  the  Creator,  and  the  vital- 
power,  the  soul-stuff,  and  the  spirits  of  the  dead  came  to  be 

1  The  middle  and  lower  classes  of  India  are  already  so  impregnated  with 
the  worship  of  spirits,  of  fetiches,  and  the  crassest  superstition,  that  its  book 
religions  can  offer  no  resistance  to  the  gradually  increasing  fetichism.  The 
most  that  it  can  do  is  to  cover  the  latter  with  a  deceptive  whitewash.  It  is 
no  longer  polytheism  or  idolatry,  but  wild  superstition,  witchcraft  surround- 
ing and  dominating  everything,  immorality,  fear  and  social  misery,  that 
predominate  in  the  practical  life  of  all  these  peoples,  in  China  and  India, 
no  less  than  in  Africa  (Wagner,  "Die  heidnischen  Kulturreligionen  und 
Fetischismus,"  pp.  81-99). 

2  Mohammedanism  also  is  in  process  of  decomposition.  Even  the  Jewish 
and  Christian  religions  have  stamped  the  down-drag  on  their  adherents,  as  is 
proved  by  the  history  of  Israel  and  the  Christian  Church.  God  Himself 
must  interpose  in  times  of  degeneration  and  work  against  the  law  of  gravity. 


104      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

worshipped.  Men  went  so  far  as  to  worship  the  sub-human, 
the  devilish,  and  were  given  up  to  blind  fear  of  the  object  of 
their  worship.  The  religious  fall  was  followed  by  a  moral 
fall.  The  proverbs,  the  fables,  the  ideas  of  justice,  that  have 
been  handed  down  from  earlier  times  prove  that  the  moral 
standing  of  animistic  peoples  was  higher  then  than  now. 
The  nations,  in  proportion  as  their  religious  views  turned 
away  from  God,  lost  the  organ  for  morality,  and  sank  into 
the  most  inhuman  abominations  and  barbarities.  Thus  to  be 
given  up  to  the  lowest  instincts  is  regarded  by  scripture  as 
the  punishment  of  religious  apostasy. 

The  idols,  gods  made  by  men,  come  between  God  and 
man.  The  roots  of  life  are  poisoned  by  fear  of  demons  and 
by  idolatry.  Men  make  for  themselves  a  real  connection 
with  what  is  non-existent — a  caricature  of  that  communion 
with  God  for  which  man  is  destined  (koivwvo\  twv  SoliijlovIwv). 
Whether  the  demons  have  reality  or  not,  they  become  real  to 
men  in  proportion  as  men  estrange  themselves  from  God. 
As  Stosch  says  :  "  In  comparison  with  the  true  idea  of  God 

/the  gods  are  pure  nullities."     But  behind  these  nullities  the 
idolater  sees  the  sinister  world  of  demons. 

I  The  heathen,  in  spite  of  their  dim  sense  of  the  Supreme 
\God,  have  no  connection  with  Him.  The  way  to  Him  is 
Wred  by  the  spirits  and  demons.  The  Battaks  think  of  the 
Debata  as  far  away.  He  scarcely  gives  a  thought  to  men, 
and  there  is  no  way  to  Him.  The  prayers  are  addressed  to 
lower  deities  and  spirits.  The  Niasser  thinks  thus  of  his  far 
away  Lowalangi.  It  is  said  of  the  Kols  that  the  essential, 
nay,  the  exclusive  influence  upon  their  thought,  feeling  and 
action,  comes  not  from  the  worship  of  Singbonga,  but  from 
belief  in  an  endless  number  of  evil  spirits,  the  so-called 
Bongas.  They  acknowledge  it  themselves  when  they  say 
that  "  We  have  no  need  to  worship  Singbonga,  avIio  is  much 
too  good  and  does  no  evil,  but  we  must  worship  the  Bongas, 
who  seek  our  life."  The  Shambala  have  no  relation  to 
Malunga,  the  Creator.  They  have  forgotten  God.  The  spirits 
have  thrust  themselves  between  God  and  His  children,  and 
holds  them   in   bondage   through   the   fear  of  death.      No 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM    105 

Washamba  has  any  doubt  of  God's  existence,  but  they  find 
it  frightfully  difficult  to  approach  Him.  The  Ewe  call  their 
God  Mawu,  good  and  wise,  and  even  look  on  Him  as  an 
avenger  of  evil,  but  He  is  to  them  "a  far  off,  hidden  God,  of  \ 
whom  only  this  much  is  known,  that  He  once  permitted 
uninterrupted  intercourse  with  men,  but  then  withdrew  to 
an  infinite  distance  from  them  because  of  their  guilt." 
They  do  not  shrink  from  calling  Him  dishonest,  because  He 
also  created  evil,  and  He  does  not  always  act  justly,  since  He 
has  dowered  man  with  death.  If  you  ask  a  Herero  why  he 
does  not  worship  God  and  sacrifice  to  Him,  he  answers,  "We 
do  not  need  to  fear  Him,  for  He  does  us  no  harm,  as  our 
ancestors  do."  They  share  the  view  of  another  Bantu  tribe, 
the  Ndjambi,  that  the  good  Creator  has  withdrawn  to  heaven, 
and  left  the  government  of  earth  to  the  demons.  The  mis- 
sionary Richards  asked  some  Congo  negroes,  "  Who  created 
these  fruit  trees  ? "  and  they  answered,  "  Nsambi."— "  Where 
does  Nsambi  dwell  ? "— "  Kunasulu  "—that  is,  in  heaven.  He 
then  asked  further,  "Who  created  all  these  things?"  and 
again  they  answered,  "Nsambi,  the  great  Nsambi."— "But 
why,  then,  do  you  not  worship  and  thank  Nsambi  ?  " — "  0,  He 
does  not  trouble  Himself  about  us.  He  does  not  love  us. 
No  doubt  He  created  all  things,  but  then  He  went  away 
and  asks  no  more  about  us." 

The  belief  in  a  great  God  who  created  the  world,  but 
then  withdrew  to  His  private  estates  and  left  the  government 
of  the  world  to  subordinate  deities,  is  common  to  all  the 
Bantu  peoples.  The  Waganda  call  the  great  spirit  Katonda, 
that  is,  the  Creator,  but  they  trouble  themselves  very  little 
about  Him.  The  Soudan  and  Bantu  negroes  practise  essen- 
tially the  same  demon  worship.  They  have  preserved,  from 
olden  times,  the  idea  of  the  one  God  who  is  over  all  and  who 
dwells  in  heaven,  but  they  fear  Him  less  than  the  spirits  whom 
yet  they  deem  subordinate  to  Him,  and  whom  they  designate 
by  another  name  than  the  God  in  heaven.  The  Bush  negroes 
in  Suriname  know  of  a  God  in  heaven,  who  created  all  things, 
but  He  is  far  away,  unapproachable,  and  without  interest  or 
sympathy   for   the   inhabitants   of    earth.      The   natives   of 


106      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

Madagascar  have  the  name  of  God  constantly  on  their  lips, 
but  this  belief  in  God  is  not  a  living  faith  ;  every  conceivable 
thing  receives  divine  worship,  so  that  their  religion  has 
degenerated  into  the  grossest  fetichisin. 

The  heathen  consciousness  is  also  without  any  living  sense 
of  God  as  a  determining  moral  power.  Only  the  fear  of 
consequences  and  of  entanglements  keeps  them  from  wrong- 
doing.1 If,  among  most  Indonesian  peoples,  there  is  any 
mention  of  a  Judge  who  in  the  other  world  decides  whether 
souls  be  allowed  to  go  into  the  kingdom  of  the  dead,  this 
Judge  is  not  supposed  to  ask  about  the  good  or  evil  doings 
of  the  dead,  but  whether  he  was  brave  and  generous  (i.e. 
rich),  and  whether  he  had  begotten  children.  This  Judge, 
moreover,  is  not  God,  and  has  no  connection  with  Him. 
None  of  their  current  rules  about  right  and  wrong  are  traced 
back  to  God. 

In  animistic  heathenism  God  is  hardly  conceived  of  as  a 
person.  He  is  not  a  living  mighty  God.  He  is  entirely 
eclipsed  by  almighty  fate.  It  is  not  God  who  apportions 
man's  destiny  ;  the  soul  chooses  its  destiny  for  itself  from  the 
general  store  in  the  pre-existent  state.2  The  lot  of  man  is 
thereby  fixed  in  its  minutest  details,  and  no  God  can  in  any 
way  change  it.  In  the  Mohammedan  conception  Almighty 
God  stands  behind  fate  ;  in  the  conception  of  the  Animist 
fate  is  a  more  mighty  and  a  more  fearful  God  than  He 
who  is  called  by  that  name.  The  life  of  the  heathen  is  not 
in  God's  hands.  Why  should  a  man  trouble  himself  about 
this  powerless  God  ?  It  is  of  no  use  praying  to  Him,  for 
He  cannot  change  man's  lot.3  Though,  in  the  formulas  of 
prayer,  God  is  invoked  alongside  the  spirits,  that  is  just  one 
of  the  inconsequences  wherein  animistic  religion  so  abounds. 

1  Thieves  do  not  hesitate  to  pray  to  God  for  success  in  stealing.  The  Ewe 
say:  "  Every  black  man  prays  to  God  before  he  steals."  Before  the  thief 
steals  anything  he  says,  "May  God  help  me"  (Spieth). 

2  When  a  Battak  meets  with  misfortune  it  is  said  :  That  was  what  his 
soul  desired,  viz.,  before  his  birth. 

3  A  Battak  tale  speaks  of  a  cripple  who  forced  his  way  to  God  in  the  upper 
world,  and  besought  Him  to  give  him  a  well- formed  body.  But,  as  his  form 
had  been  predetermined,  God,  notwithstanding  His  compassion  and  readiness 
to  help,  could  make  no  change. 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM    107 

We  meet  with  determinism  among  many  animistic  nations. 
The  peoples  of  the  Indian  Archipelago  have  all  fallen  into 
it.     The  people  of  Nias  believe  in  a  pre-existence  of  souls, 
souls  not   so   much  in   a   personal    state   as   in    a   kind  of 
general  stock  or  store.    From  that  store  souls  are  weighed 
out  to  every  man  by  Balin,  the  son  of  Lowalangi.     Every 
man  on  entering  into  life  is   asked  before  his  birth   what 
weight  or  continuance  of  soul  he  wants,  what  else  he  wants 
to  have  on  earth,  what  kind  of  death  he  desires,  etc.     The 
heaviest  share  of  soul  given  out  weighs  about  ten  grammes, 
and  whoever  wishes  and  receives  that  reaches  a  considerable 
age.     Those  who  die  in  childhood  had  asked  for  a  light 
soul.     For  this  reason  when  any  one  dies  it  is  said,  what  he 
asked  for  is  gone.     If  a  man  dies  an  unusual  death  it  is 
said,  what  does  it  matter,  he  willed  it,  he  asked  for  it.     The 
Toradja  suppose  that  the  Creator  forges  men  with  different 
hammers,   that  every  hammer  produces  a  definite  destiny, 
and  that  men  are  given  their  choice  of  hammers.     Among 
the  Tontemboan  in  Minahassa,  different  destinies  are  indi- 
cated by  different  long-burning  matches.     The  sea  Dayaks 
believe  that  man's  life  is  correspondent  with  the  growth  of 
a  flower  in  soul  land ;  if  this   flower   languishes   the  man 
perishes.     The  Kols  say  that  the  destiny  of  every  man  is 
written  on  his  skull  before  his  birth.     In  Bettigeri  (South 
Mahratta),  an  old  woman,  when  asked  by  Meyer  the  mis- 
sionary if  she  were  not  a  sinner,  answered,  "  That  depends 
upon  my  fate."     In  the  region  of  Honor  (Kanara)  it   is  a 
standing   phrase,    "  How   can  we   venture    to   change   our 
religion  so  long  as  God  withholds  from  us  the  will  and  the 
power  to  do  so."     The  Ewe  think  of  men's  souls  as  pre- 
existent  in  the  other  world  with  the  "  Mother  of  Spirits " 
who  bore  them.     Thence,  at  her  wish,  they  go  to  earth,  but 
must   fix  a   time  when  they  shall  return.     This   "personal 
engagement "  (gbetsi)  follows  the  living  man,  and  constrains 
him  to  return  to  the  other  world  at  the  time  promised.     If 
he  is  not  willing  to  fulfil  his  promise  he  becomes  ill  and  dies. 
Man  brings  with  him  to  the  world  a  finished,  unknown,  and 
unchangeable  character.     His  actions  are  therefore  justified 


108     THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

by  his  inborn  character.  The  Ewe  are  wont  to  say  every 
man  has  his  own  character.  The  bad  man  is  excused.  The 
gods  have  denied  him  the  good  ;  or,  that  is  just  my  nature 
obtained  from  the  home  of  souls. 

This  wide-spread  fatalism,  found  also  in  the  heathenism 
of  Christendom,  destroys  the  idea  of  God.  It  is  impossible 
that  a  purer  concept  should  in  course  of  time  be  developed 
from  a  heathenism  determined  by  fatalism,  for  fatalism  can 
have  nothing  but  a  destructive  influence  on  religion. 

The  animistic  heathen  are,  in  point  of  fact,  aOeoi,  without 
God,  not  in  the  sense  of  the  fool  who  says  there  is  no  God  ; 
not  even  in  the  sense  of  the  evil-doer  who,  to  sin  undisturbed, 
has,  against  the  witness  of  his  conscience,  burned  the  thought 
of  God  out  of  his  soul.  They  have  lost  God  and  are  awtjXXo- 
Tpiw/xevoL  t<79  £oo>7?  tov  deov  (Eph.  iv.  18).  Between  them 
and  Him  there  has  grown  up  a  thick  primeval  forest, \ through 
which  they  can  no  longer  find  their  way,  and  which  they 
have  no  power  to  root  up.  But  if,  notwithstanding  this 
estrangement,  there  is  still  buried  away  in  their  hearts  a  dim 
sense  of  the  Power  who  ruleth  over  all,  then  the  glad  message 
of  the  living  God  may  hope  to  find  a  responsive  echo  in 
heathenism.  The  small,  languishing  plant  of  their  god-lore  is 
incapable  of  development ;  but  the  emptied  name  of  God  may 
be  filled  with  a  contents  which  heathenism  can  never  give. 

Another  thing  we  must  take  note  of  in  order  to  understand 
the  full  depth  of  heathendom's  estrangement  from  God  is  its 
subjection  to  the  dominion  of  devilish  powers.  The  animistic 
heathen  are  not  only  in  error,  they  are  slaves.  They  are 
bound  by  three  fetters — fear,  demon  worship,  and  fate.  Fear, 
in  various  forms,  tyrannises  over  the  Animist  in  every 
situation  of  life.  The  vision  of  the  world  in  which  his 
religiousness  is  rooted  is  extremely  dark.  Even  his  own 
soul  is  a  hostile  power  against  which  he  must  ever  be  on  his 
guard.  It  is  fond  of  leaving  him ;  it  allows  itself  to  be 
enticed  away  from  him ;  it  refuses  to  accept  benefits  for 
him.  She  who  is  about  to  become  a  mother  is  rendered 
miserable  by  fear.     Her  mother  joy  is  embittered  by  fear  of 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM    109 

her  own  soul  and  of  the  soul  of  her  child,  as  well  as  of 
envious  spirits.  The  souls  of  relatives  are  easily  wounded, 
and  woe  to  him  who  even  unintentionally  offends  them. 
Primitive  man  has  to  wind  his  way  amid  the  throng  of  the 
souls  of  the  people  around  him,  and  must  continually  bargain 
or  fight  with  invisible  and  sinister  powers.  The  farmer  is 
not  only  worried  about  the  growth  of  his  crops  and  the  state 
of  the  weather,  he  has  not  only  to  guard  his  fields  against 
high  water,  or  defend  them  against  rats,  destructive  beetles, 
and  flocks  of  thievish  birds ;  he  is  helpless  also  against  the 
soul  of  the  rice,  whose  moods  determine  whether  the  fruits 
produced  by  his  laborious  efforts  shall  contain  nourishing 
power  or  not.  It  is  not  difficult  to  fight  or  circumvent  a 
visible  enemy,  but  who  can  defend  himself  against  the 
incalculable  soul  ?  Animism  seems  devised  for  the  purpose 
of  tormenting  men,  and  hindering  them  from  enjoying  life. 

To  that  must  be  added  fear  of  the  dead,  of  demons,  of  the  {/ 
thousand  spirits  of  earth,  air,  water,  mountains,  and  trees. 
The  Battak  is  like  a  man  driven  in  a  frenzied  pursuit  round 
and  round.  Ghosts  of  the  most  diverse  kinds  lurk  in  house 
and  village  ;  in  the  field  they  endanger  the  produce  of  labour ; 
in  the  forest  they  terrify  the  woodcutter  ;  in  the  bush  they 
hunt  the  wanderer.  From  them  come  diseases,  madness, 
death  of  cattle,  and  famine.  Malicious  demons  surround 
women  during  pregnancy  and  at  confinement ;  they  lie  in 
wait  for  the  child  from  the  day  of  its  birth  ;  they  swarm 
round  the  houses  at  night ;  they  spy  through  the  chinks  of 
the  walls  for  their  helpless  victims.  Gigantic  spirits  stride 
through  the  villages  scattering  epidemics  around  them  ;  they 
lurk  in  the  sea  and  rivers  with  the  view  of  dragging  travellers 
into  the  depths.  They  are  not  laughing  fauns  or  mocking 
satyrs,  but  merciless  messengers  of  death,  enemies  swollen 
with  envy,  who  would  fain  hurl  the  living  into  the  kingdom 
of  the  dead.  The  dead  friend  and  brother  becomes  an  enemy, 
and  his  coffin  and  grave  are  the  abode  of  terrors.  It  is 
fear  that  occasions  the  worship  of  the  departed,  and  the 
observance  of  their  mourning  usages  in  its  smallest  details  ; 
fear  dictates  that  host  of  prohibitions  which  surrounds  every 


110      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

movement  of  their  daily  life.     Fear  is  the  moving  power  of 
animistic  religion,  in  Asia  as  in  Africa. 

This  observation  is  confirmed  by  the  unanimous  testimony 
of  historians  of  religion  and  of  missionary  literature.     Thus 
Tiele   says,  "  In   the   religions  dominated  by  Animism  fear 
appears  more  frequently  than  trust.     The  spirits  and  their 
worshippers  are  both  alike,  self-seeking.     The  lower,  as  a 
rule,  are  more  worshipped  than  the  higher,  the  local  more 
than  those  at  a  distance,  the  particular  more  than  the  com- 
mon.    Their  rewards  and  punishments,  if  this  point  of  view 
prevails,  are  not  measured  by  the  good  or  bad  acts  of  men  in 
their  social  life,  but  only  by  the  sacrifices  and  gifts  which  are 
offered  or  withheld  from  them." 1    "  The  religions  of  uncivilised 
peoples  are  not  exclusively,  but  they  are  chiefly,  a  worship  of 
demons.     Beings  are  worshipped  who,  even  in  the  conscious- 
ness  of  the   people  themselves,    are   not   regarded   as    the 
highest ;  beings  inferior  to  God,  but  nearer  to  man,  and  who 
can  do  him  harm.     They  have  their  abode  here  and  there  in 
surrounding  nature  ;  they  may  also  be  spirits  of  dead  men." 2 
The  fear  of  demons  is  very  plainly  exhibited  among  the  Kols  : 
"  While  a  surprising  amount  of  knowledge  of  God  is  revealed 
in  the  phraseology  of  social   and  domestic  life,  and  while 
many   things    attest    a   childlike,    sincere,    noble,    and   free 
religious  sense,  yet  their  religious  usages  are  so  perverted, 
unspiritual,  and  opposed  to  all  true  religion,  that  they  can 
be  described  by   no  other  name   than  superstition.       Fear, 
or  ordinary  self-interest,  is  the  cause  of  all  that  takes  place. 
One  really  comes  to  see  that  fear  of  sinister  supernatural 
powers  is  the  essence  and  central  force  of  heathenism,  together 
with   the   belief  that  good   and  evil  powers  can  be  made 
favourable   and    submissive    by   means    of    magic    and    of 
sacrifice."  3     "  The  superstition  of  the  Kols,  and  their  fear 
of  demons,    are   shown    in    their   belief  that   almost   every 
mountain,   river,   pond,  road,  or  village  has  an  evil  Bonga 
(demon,  devil)  who  seeks  to  inflict  all  kinds  of  injury,  and 

1  Tiele,  "  Kompendium,"  p.  22. 

2 P.  Wurm,  "  Handbuch  der  Religionsgeschichte,"  p.  94. 

3  Jellinghaus,  "  Die  Kols,"  p.  33  f. 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM    111 

who  torments  people  through  their  great  eagerness  for 
offerings."  The  Kols,  naturally  so  cheerful  and  joyous, 
often  get  a  dark,  desperate  look  under  the  burden  of  their 
sacrifices  to  demons,  and,  in  their  desperation,  take  to  drink. 
The  whole  life  of  the  Kols  is  interwoven  with  fear  of  evil 
spirits.  They  feel  themselves  threatened  by  them  every- 
where, for  their  number  is  legion.  Fear  of  the  Bongas 
deprives  them  of  all  courage,  and  cripples  their  power.  The 
life  of  the  inhabitants  of  Nias  is  dominated  by  fear  of  the 
spirits  of  their  ancestors.  The  Dayaks  of  Borneo  are  im- 
pelled, by  fear,  to  worship  evil  spirits  (saniang,  Hantu),  and 
are  afraid  of  the  spirits  of  the  dead.  The  Mentawey  Islanders 
are  afraid  of  the  Sianitu,  evil  demons,  who  are  appeased  by 
sacrifices.  The  Alfurus  on  Celebes  are  afraid  of  evil  spirits, 
especially  the  spirits  of  the  dead.  The  Sumbanese  are  com- 
pletely dominated  by  the  same  fear.  The  Papuans  worship 
ancestors,  and  also  dreaded  spirits,  of  whom  the  number  is 
very  great.  The  Karens  in  further  India,  and  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Bismarck  Archipelago,  are  dominated  by  the  same  fear 
of  spirits.  Among  the  Hindus  also  the  power  of  heathenism 
consists  not  only  in  the  spirit  of  caste,  but  also  in  this  belief 
in  sorcery,  spells,  maledictions,  and  disenchantments  by  the 
directions  of  the  brahminical  books. 

Fear  also  rules  in  the  religions  of  Africa,  whose  spirit 
worship  is  closely  related  to  Indonesian  Animism.  In  West 
Africa  all  diseases  are  traced  back  to  evil  spirits,  of  whom 
the  world  is  full.  The  worship  of  the  Ewe  is  given  to  the 
spirits,  and  is  determined  by  fear,  as  the  spirits  have  always 
evil  designs  against  men.  Wurm  says  that  the  Soudan  and 
Bantu  negroes  practise  the  same  demon  worship.  The  more 
they  fear  ancestors  and  the  Losango,  the  evil  spirits,  the 
less  they  fear  God.  From  these  ancestors  and  evil  spirits 
comes  all  evil.  The  Dinka  (in  Soudan)  live  in  constant  fear 
of  the  Jork,  evil  spirits,  who  are  supposed  to  dwell  in  trees,  in 
the  jungle,  and  other  places.  The  Herero  believe  that  evil 
spirits  have  the  government  of  this  earth.  Thus,  in  every 
misfortune  and  distress,  the  Herero  are  afraid  of  the  dangerous 
influence  of  their  ancestors,  and  have  an  enormous  number 


112      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

of  sacrifices,  whose  sole  motive  is  the  fear  of  spirits.     The 
sacrifices  at  birth,  circumcision,  and  confinement  owe  their 
origin  and  their  continuance  to  this   fear.     The  sacrificial 
cult,  nay,  the  whole  religions  views  and  usages  of  the  Herero 
are  only  too  eloquent  a  testimony  to  the  fact  that  of  them,  as 
of  all  heathen,  the  words  of  the  Apostle  hold  good,  that  they 
are  all  their  life-time  in  bondage  through  the  fear  of  death. 
Besides  the  ancestors  they  are  afraid  of  other  dead  folks, 
hideous   evil    spirits,    and  in   every   illness   they   see    some 
enchantment.     The  Waganda  are  afraid  of  evil  spirits  who 
occupy   the   central   place  in  their  religious  life,  spirits  of 
nature  (Lubare),  and  spirits  of  ancestors  (Mulimu).     Hence 
the  Waganda  are  in  the  highest  degree  superstitious,  even 
the  enlightened  Kabaka  Mtesa  being  no  exception  to  this 
rule.     Rosier,  the  missionary,  has  devoted  an  essay  to  "  fear 
in  the  life  of  the  Shambala,"  in  which  he  shows  that  the 
religious  life  of  the  Shambala  is  entirely  determined  by  fear.1 
Above  all  they  are  afraid  of  the   envious,  malicious  dead. 
"  For  he  (the  ancestor  spirit)  is  greedy,  and  takes  a  pleasure 
in  hurting  men,  visiting  them  and  their  cattle  with  all  manner 
of  disease,    with   locusts   and   small-pox,    and   in    bringing 
misfortune  on  the  land."     That  is  how  matters  stand  among 
all  Bantu  tribes.     We  read  of  the  Kamba,  "  The  influence 
which  they  (the  dead)  exercised  when  in  the  body  continues, 
nay,  it  seems  as  if  the  power  of  the  dead  over  the  life  of  his 
descendants  is  greater  than  when  he  lived,  and  it  is  greater 
there  the  greater  it  was  here  upon  earth.      The  main  point  is 
that  the  spirits  are  jealously  determined  not  to  be  overlooked. 
They  demand  their  share  of  all  that  is  going,  especially  in 
joyous  events,  else  they  will  bring  misfortune  on  their  descend- 
ants."    The  Bush  negroes  of  Suriname  are  cuslaved  by  fear 
and  worship  of  the  spirits  of  the  departed  (Jorkas). 

It  is  a  dismal  picture  that  is  unrolled  before  our  eyes, 
every  heathen  a  slave  of  fear,  with  no  joy  in  life,  but 
bondage  everywhere.     But  fear  reigns  beyond  the  bounds  of 

1  Trittelvitz  says  cm  this  subject  :  "  Among  the  Shambala,  as  among  the 
Bantu  peoples,  fear  of  the  dead,  and  of  death,  is  the  characteristic  mark  of 
their  religion." 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM    113 

the  low  animistic  religions.  The  deeper  religious  specula- 
tions of  the  civilised  peoples  of  Asia  have  failed  to  drive 
away  this  spectre.  A  highly  educated  Hindu,  a  Tainul 
interpreter  of  the  Rural,  depicts  the  feelings  that  seize  him 
who  approaches  an  idol.  His  hair  stands  up  through  fear  ; 
tears  flow  from  his  eyes,  and  his  body  trembles.  Earnest 
Tamuls  assure  us  that  they  themselves  have  experienced  this 
dread. 

Nitschkowsky  says  that  the  ancestor  worship  of  the 
Chinese  is  inspired  by  fear,  not  by  piety,  fear  of  the  ven- 
geance of  the  ancestors.  The  rulers  of  the  other  world  are 
the  demons,  and  the  dead  are  their  captives.  Like  the 
prisoners  of  this  world  these  must  be  supported  by  their 
friends.  The  necessity  for  ancestor  worship  is  based  on  this 
foundation. 

At  the  general  conference  of  missionaries  at  Shanghai, 
D.  Faber  advanced  this  thesis.  Ancestor  worship  pre- 
supposes that  the  happiness  of  the  dead  is  dependent  on  the 
offerings  of  their  living  descendants,  and  that  all  those 
departed  souls  who  are  not  provided  with  offerings  become 
hungry  spirits,  who  cause  all  kinds  of  misfortune  to  the 
living.  Ancestor  worship  is  not  a  mere  remembrance  of  the 
departed,  but  an  intentional  intercourse  with  the  spirit 
world,  with  the  powers  of  Hades  and  of  darkness.  It 
undermines  belief  in  a  righteous  retribution  of  God  in  the 
future,  and  excites  the  animal  nature  of  man,  as  also  selfish- 
ness and  fear,  more  than  the  nobler  emotions  of  love.1 

The  fact  that  Buddhism  has  failed  to  root  out  this  fear 
and  ancestor  worship  from  among  its  adherents,  shows  how 
deeply  its  roots  have  struck  into  the  heart  of  those  heathen 
who  worship  demons  and  spirits.  Buddhist  monks  help  to 
expel  the  evil  spirits,  and,  in  their  cloisters,  registers  of 
ancestors  are  exhibited  to  whom  gifts  are  to  be  offered.     It 

1  The  root  of  the  filial  piety  which  is  practised  by  the  Chinese  must  be  a 
mixture  of  the  two  mightiest  motives  of  the  human  soul,  fear  and  self-love. 
The  spirits  must  be  honoured,  because  of  their  power  to  injure.  If  the 
offerings  are  neglected  the  spirit  is  enraged,  and  meditates  revenge.  Hence 
it  is  safer  to  worship  the  spirits. 
H 


114      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

is  not  really  Buddhism  that  moves  the  heart  of  the  simple 
Singalese,  but  his  old  worship  of  nature  and  of  demons. 
Buddhism  has  done  nothing  to  remove  these ;  rather,  by  its 
mythological  elements,  it  has  furnished  all  kinds  of  helps  to 
preserve  them.  The  people  of  Ceylon  have  from  the  earliest 
times  believed  in  the  activity  of  all  kinds  of  demons  (sanne), 
who  are  responsible  for  every  misfortune,  every  case  of  sick- 
ness, every  dangerous  phenomenon.  This  belief  in  demons 
is,  to  this  hour,  the  only  religious  power  which  the  people 
really  feel.  It  has  united  itself  with  Hindu  notions  as  well 
as  with  ideas  and  forms  from  Buddhism.  But  these  two 
religions  have  only  been  the  means  of  introducing  new  classes 
of  demons,  of  inventing  new  instruments  of  expulsion,  and 
providing  new  magical  formulas.  It  is  the  old  fear  of 
nature,  the  old  belief  in  spirits,  that  really  dominates  the 
ordinary  man.  In  Burmah  also,  where  Buddhism  has  struck 
its  roots  deeper  into  the  life  of  the  people,  it  has  failed  to 
become  the  dominant  religious  force.  On  the  contrary,  the 
foreground  is  occupied  by  the  worship  of  the  Nat,1  personifi- 
cations of  natural  forces,  and  of  the  spirits  of  the  dead.  They 
dwell  in  gloomy  places,  and  are  very  dangerous  to  men. 
Their  worship  is  the  real  religion  which  steadfastly  engages 
the  heart  of  the  overwhelming  majority  of  the  Burmese 
people.  Even  the  Buddhist  monks  engage  in  this  worship 
of  spirits.  The  same  picture  is  descriptive  of  the  Siamese. 
The  Buddhism  of  Thibet  also  (Lamaism)  fears  a  multitude 
of  nature  deities,  demons  and  spectres.  The  desire  to  save 
the  soul  from  hell  and  lead  it  to  paradise  is  one  of  the 
great  levers  of  Lamaistic  piety.  Another  still  more  effective 
lever  is  the  fear  of  evil  spirits.  The  dread  of  dangerous 
and  awful  demons  exists  to  a  most  unusual  degree.  Sacri- 
fices are  offered  to  sinister  demons  after  sunset.  The 
monks  exorcise  the  spirits. 

Mohammedanism  also,  in  Northern  India,  has  been  unable 
to  remove  the  fear  of  evil  spirits.     On  the  contrary,  it  assists 

1  The  Nat,  or  Nats,  are  embodiments  of  natural  forces,  good,  and  especially 
evil,  spirits  to  be  propitiated.  See  Monier  Williams,  "  Buddhism,"  pp.  255, 
259,  217. 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM    115 

in  the  expulsion  of  the  spirits  by  its  malims.1  It  allows  the 
people  to  go  on  worshipping  ancestors,  and  adds  new  spirits 
of  Arabic  origin  to  those  already  worshipped.  Islam  no- 
where appears  among  Animists  as  a  deliverer. 

For  us  who  know  that  we  are  safe  in  God's  hands,  it  is 
impossible  to  imagine  what  a  dreadful  power  this  fear  is  in 
the  life  of  the  heathen.  There  we  see  revealed  the  kernel  of 
real  heathenism,  and  all  its  theology  and  mythology  are  but 
the  shell  enclosing  it.  With  this  fetter  every  Animist  is 
bound.  The  incessant  fear  of  demons,  and  of  their  evil 
plots,  and  of  the  sorcery  closely  connected  with  their  worship, 
by  which  these  people  are  tormented,  passes  our  conceiving. 
Alienation  from  God,  who  alone  is  to  be  feared,  is  the 
ultimate  basis  of  this  irrational  fear.  Heathenism  has  lost 
God,  and,  consequently,  has  been  given  up  to  the  fear  of 
spectres,  whose  power  is  real  just  in  proportion  to  the 
estrangement  from  God. 

The  fear  of  spirits  is  intensified  by  the  authority  of  priests 
and  magicians,  who  are  supposed  to  cultivate  fellowship 
with  the  spirits,  and  to  have  power  over  them.  The  magician 
tyrannises  over  the  Battak.  Whatever  he  demands  must  be 
paid,  whatever  he  arranges  must  be  carried  out.  For  he 
knows  how  to  injure  or  strengthen  the  souls  of  the  living,  by 
restraining  or  letting  loose  the  spirits.  He  is  a  man  greatly 
dreaded  among  most  peoples  of  the  Archipelago.  The  sway 
of  the  magician  in  Africa  is  still  more  pernicious.  Whomso- 
ever they  accuse  of  witchcraft  is  condemned  to  death. 
They  work  in  secret  with  a  frightful  venom,  and  no  one  is 
safe  from  them. 

The  heathen  world  furnishes  an  example  of  how  surely  fear 
debases  men.  Men  of  fearless  character  are  mostly  noble- 
minded  ;  the  fearful  are  cruel.  Surrounded  by  fell  powers 
of  destruction,  the  animistic  heathen  grow  distrustful  and 
cruel.  Fear  poisons  every  social  relationship,  distrust  be- 
comes a  second  nature  to  the  harassed.     The  poor  fear  the 

1  The  malims  are  the  lowest  order  of  Mohammedan  teachers.  Then- 
intelligence  is  not  great,  but  they  have  great  influence  with  the  people, 
and  are  zealous  missionaries  of  Islam. 


116      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

rich,  the  weak  the  strong,  the  sick  the  healthy,  for  each 
knows  that  the  other  is  trying  to  enrich  his  own  sonl  power 
at  the  expense  of  his  fellow.  But  those  whom  no  one  needs 
to  fear  are  mercilessly  trodden  under  foot.  In  Nias,  Celebes, 
Borneo,  the  lands  of  the  head-snatcher,  no  one  knows 
whether  by  evening  he  will  still  have  his  head  upon  his 
shoulders.  At  the  death  of  a  chief  hundreds  tremble  for 
their  lives,  for  the  prince  cannot  be  buried  without  human 
sacrifices.  Among  animistic  peoples  every  case  of  sickness 
and  of  death  leads  to  the  magician's  search  for  the  unfortunate 
being  who  is  supposed  to  have  bewitched  the  afflicted.1 
What  an  immense  amount  of  fear  is  involved  in  witchcraft, 
head-snatching,  human  sacrifice,  burial  ceremonies,  and 
kindred  animistic  abominations.  Cruelty  is  everywhere  one 
of  the  fruits  of  Animism ;  from  that  fruit  we  can  infer  the 
nature  of  the  tree.  How  sweetly  must  sound  the  words 
peace  and  rest  on  the  ears  of  these  poor  souls  in  bondage,  for 
in  animistic  heathendom  there  is  no  such  thing  as  security  or 
peace. 

To  the  heathen  these  demons  whom  they  fear  are  realities. 
God  has  become  an  abstraction,  but  they  have  personal  con- 
tact with  the  demons.  It  is  worth  noting  what  Stosch  says 
about  the  Hindu  who  denies  all  reality.  "  One  of  the  most 
wonderful  things  on  an  earth  so  full  of  wonders  is,  that 
among  a  people  who,  educated  and  uneducated  alike,  doubt 
the  reality  of  all  things,  no  one  doubts  the  reality  of  evil 
powers."  2  Questioned  about  God  and  divine  things,  Ani mists 
will  always  admit  that  they  know  nothing  definite  about 
them,  but  if  asked  whether  evil  spirits  really  exist,  they  will 
unhesitatingly  answer  yes,  surprised  that  such  a  strange 
question  should  be  put.  If  they  were  not  so  firmly  convinced 
of  the  existence  and  power  of  the  demons,  they  would  not  be 
so  sorely  tormented  by  fear  of  the  spirits.  Such  fear  is  not 
to  be  trifled  with.  Battaks  who  become  Christian  have  no 
doubt  of  the  reality  of  the  demons.  They  explain  the  matter 
fn  this  Avay.     Heathenism  teaches  us  the  power  of  the  spirits. 

1  This  is  done  in  Mentawey  and  in  many  regions  of  Africa. 

2  Stosch,  "  Im  feiuen  lndieii,"  p.  214. 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM    117 

The  devil  is  the  personification  of  the  power  opposed  to 
God ;  it  was  he  who  deceived  our  forefathers  and  persuaded 
them  to  idolatry.  In  worshipping  the  spirits  we  were 
ignorantly  worshipping  Satan  and  his  servants.  The  devil, 
as  the  personal  head  of  the  spirit  world  that  is  at  enmity 
with  God,  became  popular  among  the  Battak  people  in  a 
surprisingly  short  time.  Heathen  religion  does  not  know 
him,  but  he  has  been  intelligently  appropriated,  not  only  by 
Christians  on  whom  missionaries  have  forced  this  "dark 
illusion,"  and  by  heathen  who  have  come  into  contact  with 
Christianity,  but  by  heathen  who  are  far  beyond  the  horizon 
of  evangelistic  mission  work.  Heathen  Christians  find  in  him 
the  explanation  of  the  great  blindness  of  their  former  state. 
A  Battak  teacher,  writing  on  the  subject,  says :  The  devil 
is  just  what  we  formerly  called  begu.  He  has  overreached 
the  Battak  nation,  and  compelled  it  to  obey  him,  that  so  he 
might  drag  others  to  ruin  with  him.  The  spirit  media  must 
in  some  sort  have  been  the  instruments  through  whom  he 
expressed  his  wishes.  For  people  who  were  naturally  dull 
and  stupid  could,  as  media,  speak  clearly  and  cleverly.  It 
was  he  who  taught  the  magicians  their  arts,  and  enabled  them 
to  effect  things  marvellous  and  inexplicable.  The  Niassers 
who  have  been  converted  to  Christianity  call  their  heathen 
religion  "the  way  of  the  devil,"1  and  the  Kols  do  very  much 
the  same.2  A  Battak  teacher  expresses  his  opinion  of  the 
activity  of  the  magician  as  follows :  "  The  datu  knew  how 
to  recover  stolen  goods,  and  sometimes  how  to  find  the  thief. 
They  were  able  to  bring  sickness  on  a  man  by  digging  up  his 
footprints.  There  were  magicians  who  called  forth  serpents 
and  set  them  against  their  enemies.  When  I  think  upon 
their  arts  I  will  not  venture  to  say  that  it  was  all  mere 
human  bungling.  There  must  have  been  some  one  who 
taught  them,  and  that  one  was  the  devil." 

It  is  suggestive  to  find  that  the  judgment  of  heathen 
Christians  to-day  agrees  with  that  of  the  early  Church. 
Both  had  experienced  the  might  of  heathen  religion  in  their 

1  Sundermann,  "Nias,"  p.  173,  175. 

2  Jellinghaus,  "Die  Kols,"  p.  172. 


118      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

own  bodies,  and  both  saw  in  it  the  operation  of  spiritual 
powers  of  a  Satanic  kind.  Tertullian,  Justin,  Tatian,  Cyprian 
are  convinced  that  behind  the  idols  of  the  heathen  the  demons 
are  at  work,  and  that  these  demons  are  a  power  in  the  life  of 
the  individual  as  well  as  in  the  life  of  society.  They  persuade 
men  to  believe  in  the  heathen  gods.  Tertullian  describes 
their  pernicious  workings.  They  destroy  men  ;  they  bring 
upon  them  diseases  and  convulsions  of  soul ;  they  ruin  the 
fruits  of  the  field ;  they  lead  men  to  polytheism.  Because 
they  are  swift  in  their  movements,  they  are  able  to  foretell 
many  things  that  will  happen,  and  to  send  dreams.  "  Every- 
where it  is  regarded  as  the  chief  contrivance  of  their 
wickedness  that  they  introduced  polytheism,  that  is,  caused 
themselves  to  be  worshipped  under  the  images  of  dead  idols, 
and  turned  to  their  own  advantage  the  sacrifices  whose 
vapour  they  relish."  x  Hence  idolatry  is  the  supreme  sin  and 
the  source  of  all  others,2  a  statement  which  is  undoubtedly 
correct,  inasmuch  as  every  intellectual  and  moral  error  of  the 
heathen  has  its  basis  in  religious  error.  One  of  the  main 
evidences  of  the  truth  and  power  of  Christianity  was  the 
casting  out  of  devils  in  the  name  of  Jesns,  which  the  Christian 
apologists  turned  to  account  as  a  convincing  proof  of  the 
truth  of  their  faith-3  It  was  believed  then,  as  it  is  believed 
in  heathendom  to-day,  that  wherever  Christians  make  their 
appearance  the  strength  of  the  Satanic  powers  is  broken. 
We  shall  speak  of  this  further  on.  Here  it  is  sufficient  to 
say  that  the  Christians  of  the  first  days,  like  the  heathen 
Christians  in  the  mission  fields  of  to-day,  though  they  knew 
that  they  themselves  were  free  from  those  influences,  nay 
were  able  to  mock  and  challenge  the  devil,  took  a  very 
serious  view  of  idolatry.  They  knew  its  sinister  power  was 
something  real.  They  did  not  believe  that  heathenism  could 
be  considered  merely  a  lower  stage  of  the  knowledge  of  God 
which  only  needed  to  be  further  developed.     On  the  contrary 

1  Harnack,  "The  Mission  and  Expansion  of  Christianity,"  2nd  ed.,  vol.  i., 
p.  138,  note  1. 

2  Harnack,  I.e.,  p.  292,  note  2. 

3  Harnack,  I.e.,  p.  139. 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM    119 

they  viewed  it  as  opposition  and  enmity  to  God,  a  bondage 
to  devilish  powers  endowed  with  a  power  of  misguidance, 
lying,  and  seduction.  The  testimony  of  those  who  have 
renounced  heathenism,  and  who  know  its  power  from  ex- 
perience, deserves,  at  least,  as  much  attention  as  the  theories 
of  philosophies  of  religion. 

The  judgment  of  heathen  Christians,  in  the  old  world  as  in 
the  new,  confirms  the  statements  of  the  Bible  about  the  power 
of  Satan,  to  whom  God  has  assigned  a  place  in  His  plan  of 
the  world,  and  granted  a  certain  government  of  this  a^on. 
Jesus  calls  him  the  prince  of  this  world.1  Paul  calls  him 
6  Qeog  rov  aiwvos  tovtov.'2  Dominion  over  evil  spirits  is  part 
of  the  Divine  legitimation  of  the  Son.  To  destroy  the  works 
of  Satan,  viz.,  the  estrangement  of  man  from  God,  which  he 
has  systematically  promoted,  is  the  work  of  the  Son  of  God 
(1  John  iii.  8).  The  great  missionary  to  the  heathen,  speaking 
from  his  own  experience,  calls  the  powers  of  heathenism 
that   are   at  work   behind   the   scenes  apxal,   egovcrlai,   roi 

KOtTfXOKpaTOpeS    TOV    CTKOTOV9    TOVTOV,    TTVeV/JLClTlKU  T^?   7TOl'>//o/a? 

ev  toi$  evovpavloi?  (Eph.  vi.  12),  principalities,  powers,  the 
world  rulers  of  this  darkness,  supernatural  powers  who 
systematically  organise  wickedness  and  direct  it  to  one  end. 
Paul  calls  the  ruler  of  heathenism  top  apxovTa  tj??  egovcria? 
tov  aepo?,  tov  irvev/ixaTO^  tov  vvv  evepyowTO?  ev  toc?  vioi? 
T>y?  aTretOelas,  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  the  spirit 
that  now  worketh  in  the  sons  of  disobedience.  He  inspires 
the  spirit  of  disobedience  towards  God,  which  has  become  a 
world  power  in  heathenism.3  But  that  does  not  imply  any 
dualism,  for  their  mysterious  power  is  transmitted  to  the 
demons  by  God.  God  sends  evepyeia  TrXdvw,*  which  con- 
strains men  to  believe  a  lie.  Jesus  has  divested  the  princi- 
palities of  their  authority,  and  made  an  open  show  of  the 
former  rulers  (Col.  ii.  15).  Their  dominion  could  only  endure 
so  long  as  God,  in  His  plan  of  the  world,  had  determined, 
viz.,  till  His  Son  should  bring  their  misleading  power  to  an 
end.     Paul  says  that  the  gods  whom  the  heathen  worship 

1  John  xii.  31  ;  xvi.  11  ;  cf.  Luke  iv.  6.  2  2  Cor.  iv.  4. 

3  Eph.  ii.  2.  *2  Thess.  ii.  11, 


120      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

are  nothing ;  they  have  no  existence,  and  the  heaven  which 
they  populate  has  no  existence,  ovSeh  6e6<?  el  /x>]  eh  ',  ovSev 
eiScoXov  ev  koo-julu).1  There  are  Xeyo/uLevoi  Oeol  in  heaven  and 
on  earth,  which  are  the  gods  imagined  by  heathen  fancy.  In 
the  minds  of  their  worshippers  there  are  Oeol  7roXXo/  and 
Ki'pioi  iroWol,2  but  they  are  realities  only  to  those  who 
believe  in  them.  Paul  calls  them  also  ol  (pvcrei  /j.rj  ovre<; 
Oeol,3  those  who  by  nature  are  not  gods,  because  products  of 
the  human  mind.  But  behind  the  Aeyo/xeyo*  Oeol  stand  the 
SaifjLovia*  to  whom,  without  knowing  it,  the  heathen  offer 
sacrifice,  and  not  to  the  elSooXa.  By  their  sacrifices  to  heathen 
gods,  the  heathen  have  essentially  the  same  fellowship  with 
demons  as  the  Christian  has  with  Christ  through  taking  part 
in  the  Lord's  Supper.5  The  gods  of  heathen  fancy  become 
powerful  entities  through  the  demons,  who  turn  idolatry  to 
their  own  advantage,  and  under  this  disguise  deceive  and 
enslave  the  heathen.  This  estimate  of  heathenism,  which  is 
obvious  to  all  heathen  Christians,  comes  from  the  greatest 
heathen  missionary  of  all  times,  one  who  indulged  in  no  idle 
speculations,  but  found  himself  compelled  to  deal  with 
powers  whose  actual  opposition  was  as  sensibly  felt  as  it  was 
mysterious.  He  saw  in  heathenism  forces  opposed  to  God, 
a  power  from  beneath.  And  any  mission  worker  who  does 
not  sufficiently  appreciate  this  power  in  heathenism  will 
underestimate  his  opponent. 

However  that  may  be,  whether  heathenism  is  inspired  by 
devilish  personalities,  or  whether  we  are  satisfied  with  purely 
human  explanations,  the  enslavement  of  animistic  heathendom 
under  the  power  of  the  Satanic  is  undoubtedly  real.  To  fear 
and  the  yoke  of  spirit  worship  must  be  added  a  third  iron 
fetter,  fatalism.  Subjection  to  an  immutable  fate  may  seem, 
to  the  superficial  observer,  to  have  something  consoling  for 
the  enslaved,  to  be  a  beneficent  narcotic.  In  point  of  fact  it 
is  astonishing  how  soon  the  Animist  gets  over  the  loss  of  a 
member  of  the  family  :  "  It  cannot  be  helped,  it  was  so  deter- 
mined," and  with  that  the  matter  is  ended.      But  there  can 

1  1  Cor.  viii.  4  ;   x.  19.  2  1  Cor.  viii.  5.  '  Gal.  iv.  8. 

4  1  Cor.  n.  20.  n  1  Cor.  x.  21. 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM    121 

be  no  thought  of  real  comfort  in  that.  Fatalism  has  some- 
thing diabolic  in  it.  It  eliminates  God  from  the  world,  and 
negates  man's  will,  that  in  which  he  resembles  God.  It  kills 
man's  nobler  nature,  and  degrades  him  to  apiece  of  mechanism. 
Heathenism  tinged  with  fatalism  is  not  a  religion  of  free 
moral  men,  but  a  poisoned  hereditary  theory  of  life  of 
burdened  will-less  creatures.  Determinists  have  no  energy ; 
what  is  the  good  of  overworking  oneself?  Success  and  riches 
will  fall  into  the  bosom  of  the  man  for  whom  they  are  pre- 
ordained without  any  effort  on  his  part,  and  if  they  have  not 
been  allotted  to  him  he  cannot  compel  them.  Thus  prayers, 
reflection,  and  volition  are  killed.  Moral  will  is  destroyed, 
for  each  man  gets  his  disposition,  with  its  tale  of  good  and 
evil  deeds,  at  his  birth.  The  soil  wherein  the  human  con- 
science grows  is  taken  away.  Men  have  no  responsibility ; 
they  never  act  freely,  but  always  by  constraint.  This  belief 
lies  like  a  dark  curse  on  the  life  of  the  soul,  making  it  stupid, 
indifferent,  and  immoral.  But,  above  all,  this  world  of  ideas 
is  thrust  between  man  and  his  God,  and  makes  God  altogether 
superfluous.  All  forms  of  animistic  heathenism  are  deter- 
mined by  fatalism,1  as  if  one  hand  had  intentionally  sown 
this  tare  on  the  different  fields. 

The  powers  that  enslave  the  heathen  rob  them  of  the  | 
capacity  of  self-determination.  Born  in  slavish  dependence 
upon  fear,  demons  and  fate,  the  heathen  is  incapable  of 
reflecting  on  his  captivity.  He  is  bound  in  his  religious 
thought,  and  his  power  of  judgment  is  crippled  by  ideas 
of  constraint.  Personal  decision  is  taken  from  him  ;  he  has 
only  to  observe  the  traditional  ceremonies  of  the  national 
religion.  The  very  will  for  freedom  is  bound,  just  as  we  see 
in  slaves  whose  desire  for  freedom  is  dead,  notwithstanding 
their  misery.  The  average  heathen  (and  in  the  communistic 
character  of  animistic  heathendom  exceptions  to  the  average 
are  more  rare  than  among  civilised  nations),  does  not  reflect  on 
the  chains  which  cut  into  his  flesh,  and  the  longing  for  deliver- 

1  Fatalism  seems  to  be  an  essential  constituent  of  heathenism  everywhere 
(c/.  the  Moira  of  the  Greeks).  Sufficient  traces  of  it  may  be  found  in  Cbristian 
Europe  among  educated  and  uneducated,  so  far  as  they  are  estranged  from 
God. 


122      THE  LTVTNG  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

ance  from  hard  oppression  remains  for  the  most  part  below 
the  threshold  of  consciousness.  The  longing  for  freedom,  like 
the  longing  for  God,  exists  in  him  as  a  rudimentary  thing,  but 
they  are  both  shut  up  as  in  a  capsule,  waiting  for  a  resurrection. 
A  heathendom  so  bound  has  no  inherent  power  of  self- 
deliverance.  But  it  sighs  for  redemption  by  some  higher 
power.  Heathendom,  just  because  it  is  bound,  needs  and  is 
capable  of  redemption.  The  guilt  of  the  individual's  estrange- 
ment from  God  is  lessened  by  his  union  with  the  larger 
whole.  His  relation  to  that  resembles  the  share  of  the 
individual  in  the  sins  of  the  society  into  which  he  is  born. 
The  sins  of  humanity  in  which  every  man  is  involved,  as 
well  as  the  solidarity  of  heathenism,  which  makes  all  its 
adherents  slaves  with  no  will  of  their  own,  should  never  be 
judged  apart  from  the  redemption,  or  they  will  be  felt  to  be 
supremely  harsh  and  unjust.  God  has  prepared  a  redemption 
from  the  ruinous  connection.  The  man  who  accepts  this 
redemption  becomes  free  solely  through  God's  redeeming  act. 
The  man  who  does  not  recognise  it  is  lost,  because  he  will 
not  allow  himself  to  be  delivered.  No  one  should  speak  of 
the  severity  and  unrighteousness  of  the  divine  government 
who  knows  the  unravelling  of  the  twisted  knot.  The  man 
who  sees  in  Jesus'  work  redemption  from  all  ruinous  con- 
nections can  frankly  concede  the  subjection  of  heathenism. 
It  is  an  egovaia  tov  ctk6tov$,  that  can  only  be  overcome  by  a 
power  of  the  light  from  above. 

Animistic  heathenism  is  further  presented  to  the  observer 
is  the  negation  of  love,  as  selfishness  in  its  most  barefaced 
form.  God  is  love,  and  where  in  the  wanderings  of  centuries 
God  has  beeu  lost,  love  is  also  lost.  How  unspeakably  poor 
is  the  godless  and  loveless  heathen  world  !  The  idea  of  love 
is  almost  obliterated  from  its  religion  and  its  ethics.  The 
relation  of  the  gods  to  men  is  without  love ;  so  is  men's 
relation  to  them,  and,  as  a  consequence,  there  is  little  love 
in  men's  relations  to  one  another.  The  only  relation  in 
which  unselfish  love  is  manifested  is  that  of  parents  to  their 
children,  though  even  there  love  is  deformed  in  various  ways. 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM    123 

The  true  parental  love  which  desires  to  secure  moral  benefits 
to  the  child  is  perverted  into  a  weak,  blind  partiality.     The 
animistic  notions  of  the  soul  being  easily  wounded,  forbid 
all  attempts  to  exercise  an  educative  influence  on  the  child.1 
Love  is  concentrated  also  on  the  sons  who  are  expected 
to  offer  worship  to  their  parents  after   death.      Love   for 
children  is  seen  among  many  peoples,2  general  love  is  rarely 
met  with.     In  the  Indian  Archipelago  parents  are  honoured 
only   after  they   are    dead,    because    then    their    souls    are 
dangerous.     Married  love  is  diverted  into  the  sexual  region.3 
The   man  prizes  his  wife  because  he  expects  descendants 
from  her,   and  because  in  her   he   has   bought  a  valuable 
slave.     Polygamy,  which  is  common,  makes  true  married  love 
impossible.     There  is  scarcely  such  a  thing  as  love  of  friends, 
though  in  proverbs  friendship  is  praised.     Neighbour  love, 
with  its  practical  results,  pity  for  the  suffering,  compassion   , 
for  the  sick,  consideration  for  the  weak,  will  be  sought  in  J 
vain.     The  man  who,  at  his  own  cost,  would  help  another  I 
in  difficulty  or  danger,  is  laughed  at  as  a  fool.     The  relations 
of  men  to  one  another  are  ruled  by  politeness,  which  is 
rooted,   however,   not  in  love  but  in  fear.4      Captives  are 
tortured  to  death  with  incredible  cruelty,  nay,  with  volup- 
tuous joy ;    debtors  are  allowed  to  rot  in  prison ;   and  the 
sick  are  mercilessly  left  to  their  misery.     No  heathen  feels 
anything  like  indignation  when  the  mighty  rob  the  widow 
of  her  last  copper  and  enslave  her  children.     They  gloat 
with  pleasure  over  the  torments  of  the  oppressed.     It  is  a 
self-evident  privilege  of  the  great  to  impoverish  and  oppress 
the  humble.5     The  heathen  laughingly  reply  to  missionaries, 

1  When  a  naughty  child  gets  its  way  the  parents  justify  themselves 
by  saying  :    What  can  I  do,  he  wants  it  ? 

2  Spieth  extols  the  sons  of  the  Ewe,  who  often  show  great  honour  to  their 
mothers  ("Ewe,"  p.  66).     The  devotion  of  Chinese  children  is  well  known. 

3  Gloyer  says  of  the  Hindus  that  among  them  the  word  love  has  always  an 
unclean  meaning. 

4  Any  one  who  has  power  gets  above  all  considerations  enjoined  by  polite- 
ness.    A  man  is  polite  only  to  equals  or  superiors. 

5  I  shall  only  mention  one  diabolical  cruelty  of  the  Battaks.  A  poison 
made  up  of  the  fine  hairs  of  a  caterpillar  is  put  in  betel  or  tobacco  and  slipped 
into  the  pocket  of  an  enemy.     The  hairs  fix  themselves  in  the  throat,  and  the 


124      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

"  You  white  men  have  pity  (i.e.  it  is  your  innate  character) ; 
we  Battaks  do  not  know  it,  and  are  therefore  completely 
free  from  any  sense  of  blame."  You  may  go  through 
heathendom  anywhere,  in  the  Indian  Archipelago,  in  New 
Guinea,  in  the  South  Seas,  and  in  Africa,  and  you  will 
nowhere  find  humanity,  mercy,  kindness  and  love.  Selfish- 
ness reigns  nakedly  everywhere,  and  self-complacency  is 
boasted  of  as  a  virtue.1 

This  shameless  selfishness  and  lovelessness  has  its  roots 
in  the  animistic  religion,  which  must  be  held  responsible  for 
expelling  love  and  its  gracious  companions  from  its  world. 
Animism  is  selfishness  raised  to  a  system.  The  first  com- 
mandment of  the  Animist  is  to  preserve  and  augment  his 
\  own  soul-stuff  against  any  one  in  heaven  or  on  earth,  and 
at  his  expense.  To  rob  others  of  their  soul-stuff  wherewith 
to  enrich  his  own  is  good,  because  profitable ;  to  take  the 
life  of  another  wherewith  to  strengthen  his  own  is  wisdom. 
No  one  gives  love  ;  no  one  asks  for  it.  Man  seeks  in  vain 
in  the  world  of  gods  and  spirits  for  love.  No  doubt  it  is 
said  that  God  is  merciful,  and  that  His  mercy  is  invoked 
in  standing  phrases.  But  that  means  nothing,  for  God  is 
far  away.  Even  the  idea  of  God  as  the  merciful  "Grand- 
father," which,  at  any  rate,  betrays  a  deeper  need,  falls 
into  the  background.  Fate  strides  on  rigorous  and  pitiless  ; 
the  selfish  gods  demand  sacrifices  and  worship ;  and  the 
envious  spirits  torment  the  living  to  extort  from  them 
reluctant  gifts  which  the  spirits  need  for  their  own  well- 
being.  Gods  and  spirits  give  only  after  they  have  abundantly 
received.     The  idea  that  God   or   gods   have   an    unselfish 

poor  victim  has  to  cough  himself  to  death  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks.  At 
cannibal  feasts  a  piece  of  flesh  is  cut  out  of  the  living  body  of  the  man  who 
is  to  be  slain  and  roasted,  and  devoured  before  his  eyes.  In  Samosir  a  chief 
cut  off  the  genitals  from  his  enemy,  who  was  supposed  to  have  got  entangled 
with  his  wife,  and  left  him  to  bleed  to  death. 

1  Selfishness  in  every  form  and  in  its  most  naked  deformity  appears  among 
the  Basutos.  It  is  developed  by  the  despotism  of  the  chief,  with  whom  the 
individual  has  to  get  on  as  best  he  can.  It  appears  among  them  not  only  as 
vanity  and  ambition,  hut  as  laziness  on  the  part  of  him  who  is  serving  others, 
stinginess  and  eovetousness  on  the  part  of  him  who  is  working  for  himself 
(Merensky). 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM    125 

love  for  men  is  one  that  is  nowhere  found  in  animistic 
heathendom,  and  no  heathen  ever  dreams  that  man  can  love 
God.  At  best,  the  gods  who  have  no  interest  in  the 
inhabitants  of  earth  leave  them  to  go  their  own  way 
undisturbed.  The  lower  deities,  with  whom  men  have 
much  more  to  do,  are  conceived  to  be  as  selfish  as  their 
worshippers.  Men  are  religious  in  their  own  interest,  and 
out  of  fear.  But  fear  and  love  are  mutually  exclusive. 
Wherever  religion  is  determined  by  fear,  love  and  humanity 
are  excluded,  for  fear  brutalises.  Unconcealed  selfishness, 
therefore,  expresses  the  essence  of  animistic  religion. 
Humanity  is  an  idea  which  cannot  be  implanted  in  this 
heathenism  ;  it  would  cast  it  out  again.  The  ideas  of  the 
love  of  God  and  man  can  no  more  be  developed  from  this 
heathenism  than  sweet  grapes  could  be  made  in  course  of 
time  to  spring  from  a  blackthorn  tree.  It  cannot  even 
be  engrafted ;  the  old  tree  must  be  uprooted  and  a  new 
one  planted. 

Animistic  heathenism  is  a  struggle  for  existence  sanctioned 
by  religion,  a  struggle  of  living  souls  and  their  owners  with 
one  another,  a  struggle  of  the  living  with  spirits,  a  struggle 
of  spirits  and  deities  with  the  inhabitants  of  earth ;  a  distor- 
tion of  men's  relation  to  one  another  and  to  the  deities,  a 
relation  determined  by  envy,  hatred,  and  lovelessness.  This 
reckless  struggle  is  continued  in  the  world  beyond.  Will 
the  gift  of  the  Gospel  find  an  entrance  into  benighted  hearts 
thus  weaned  from  love  ? 

Closely  connected  with  this  loveless  selfishness  of  animistic 
heathenism  is  another  characteristic  defect,  viz.,  its  perver- 
sion of  morality,  the  moral  error  and  coarseness  that  almost 
everywhere  belongs  to  it.  We  do  not  mean  to  say  that 
there  are  no  virtues  in  heathendom.  Certain  national 
virtues  may  be  found  among  different  peoples.  The  position 
of  woman  in  the  Indian  Archipelago  is  by  no  means  so  low 
as  might  be  supposed  from  the  general  custom  of  purchasing 
wives  and  the  prevalence  of  polygamy.  The  matriarchate 
which  secures  for  woman  a  position  of  influence  exists  on 


V 


126      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

many  islands,  as,  for  example,  on  Minahassa.  Among  the 
Battaks  the  mistress  of  the  house  has  frequently  an  honour- 
able place,  and  the  word  of  a  chiefs  wife  has  some  value 
even  in  public  affairs.1  Among  the  Battaks  and  Niassers 
adultery  is  threatened  with  death  ;  not  for  moral  reasons, 
but  because  the  wife,  and  also  the  betrothed,  are  inviolable 
as  purchased  property.  The  Indonesian  peoples  show  a 
remarkable  capacity  for  self-control,  composure  in  misfor- 
tune, domesticity,  hospitality,  and  politeness.  There  is 
scarcely  any  heathen  people  among  whom  may  not  be  found 
one  or  other  delightful  trait.  The  law  of  many  tribes  with 
its  penal  code  betrays  a  not  inconsiderable  sense  of  justice, 
so  that,  mutatis  mutandis,  it  can  be  taken  as  the  basis  of 
Christian  legislation  among  the  Christianised  peoples  of  the 
Indian  Archipelago.  No  one  is  more  delighted  than  the 
missionary,  when  he  discovers  traces  of  a  higher  morality 
among  his  people. 

All  the  same,  when  we  speak  of  a  general  perversion  of 
morality  among  animistic  peoples,  we  mean  that  the  idea  of 
morals  is  entirely  absent,  or  present  only  in  a  stunted  form. 
They  have  a  custom,  a  law,  a  fixed  usage,  but  no  morality. 
There   are   no    moral  standards.      They   have   the   idea   of 
(the   permitted   and   the    forbidden,    but    not  that  of  good 
/and  evil.     Systematic  selfishness  is  the  recognised  law  ;  no 
one  rules  his  conduct  by  consideration  for  others ;  every  one 
|  is  a  law  unto  himself.     Anything  beneficial  to  his  soul  is  to 
/  the  Animist  good.     His  conduct  is  determined  by  considera- 
f  tions  of  profit.     The  only  limit  to  caprice  is  that  the  action 
must  have  no  hurtful  consequences.     Accordingly,  the  poor 
man  and  the  oppressed  considers  anything  good  that  pre- 
vents him  from  coming  into  conflict  with  those  in  power. 
He   must  not  meddle  with  their  women  or  their  property, 
and  he  must  not  provoke  their  anger  by  word  or  deed.     For 
him  politeness  is  "life."     But  all  things  are  allowed  to  the 
mighty  man   who   has   a   strong   soul.      In   plundering   his 
subjects,  treading  the  poor  beneath  his  feet,  abusing  their 

1  Among  die  Ewe,  also,  woman  has  an  honourable  place  in  the  family  and 
in  public  ln'e  (Spieth,  I.e.,  p.  65  f.)- 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM    127 

wives  and  selling  their  children  as  slaves,  he  is  involving 
himself  in  no  evil  consequences,  but  rather  promoting  his 
interests.  But  should  he  meet  one  mightier  than  himself, 
then  the  will  of  the  stronger  becomes  his  law.  Morality  is 
one  thing  for  those  at  the  top,  and  another  thing  for  those  at 
the  bottom.  The  general  lack  of  moral  feeling  is  proved 
by  this  that  every  one  looks  on  such  immorality  as  natural, 
and  submits  to  the  persecutions  of  the  rich  with  stoical 
quietness  as  to  something  inevitable ;  were  he  in  their 
position  he  would  do  the  same.  There  is  only  one  restraint 
to  which  those  in  power  give  any  heed,  and  that  is  the 
ancestors,  who  zealously  watch  over  the  customs  established 
or  observed  in  their  day.  But  these  customs  are  not  viewed 
from  a  moral  standpoint.  The  ancestors  are  not  avengers  of 
evil ;  they  are  only  guardians  of  tradition.  Tradition  is  thus 
law  for  the  animistic  heathen.  Sin  is  simply  what  offends 
the  customs  which  all  observe.1  Any  one  offering  disrespect 
to  these  brings  evil  on  himself.  The  custom  may  contain 
elements  of  moral  value ;  it  does  contain  these,  but  that  does 
not  warrant  us  in  saying  that  it  has  a  moral  basis.  It  is  a 
social,  not  a  moral,  order,  a  system  of  rules  of  conduct  con- 
structed from  the  national  character,  from  peculiarities  of 
the  land  and  climate,  from  the  occupations  and  political 
institutions  of  the  people,  from  egoism  and  all  kinds  of 
opportunist  considerations.  The  good  and  the  evil,  the 
attractive  and  the  repellent,  cross  one  another,  and  are 
equally  legitimate.  The  custom  forbids  stealing  to  one  and 
commends  it  to  another.  It  compels  one  to  walk  carefully 
according  to  apparent  moral  rules,  and  allows  another 
brutally  to  cast  aside  every  moral  restraint.  The  determin- 
ing factor  is  not  morality  but  opportunism. 

The  shaping  of  the  custom  is  dependent  on  the  animistic 

1  The  only  sin  is  for  a  man  to  leave  the  religion  of  his  fathers.  Horo  is 
regarded  by  the  Niassers  as  nothing  more  in  principle  than  a  transgression 
of  their  Huku  (custom),  and  head-snatching  is  not  considered  by  the  heathen 
Niasser  to  be  sin,  but  the  reverse.  When  the  Huku  of  the  Niassers  seems  to 
coincide  with  the  contents  of  one  of  the  ten  commandments,  as,  e.g.,  in 
puncto  sexti,  the  crime  is  not  worthy  of  death  because  it  is  felt  to  be  a  sin 
against  God,  but  because  it  is  a  violation  of  national  law. 


128      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

world  of  thought.  After  all,  religion  is  the  mother  of 
custom,  and  therefore  of  morality.  No  one  familiar  with 
animistic  spirit  worship  will  be  surprised  at  the  perversion 
of  the  moral  idea.  The  animistic  world  of  ideas  pro- 
duces human  sacrifices,  cannibalism,  prosecution  of  witches, 
abominations  of  sorcery,  blood  revenge,  head-hunting,  the 
killing  of  twins,  cruelty  to  a  woman  dying  in  child-bed,  and 
such  infamies.  All  these  are  means  of  protecting  or  enrich- 
ing one's  own  soul.  No  heathen  will  admit  that  he  is 
committing  a  wrong  in  doing  these  things.  Animism  leads 
to  the  depreciation  of  human  life,  which  in  turn  produces 
blood-thirstiness  and  a  bias  towards  diabolical  cruelty.  The 
animistic  heathen  thus  debased  fall  into  endless  and  ruinous 
tribe  feuds,  into  slavery  and  men  stealing.  The  sacrifices  to 
the  dead,  the  huge  numbers  murdered  at  the  death  of  an 
African  despot,  and  many  other  horrors  of  animistic  heathen, 
are  not  isolated  acts  of  rude  caprice  ;  they  are  inherent  in 
the  system  ;  they  are  the  natural  and  necessary  expressions 
of  misled  religiousness.1 

Unchastity  is  common ;  it  is  also  an  outcome  of  the 
animistic  world  of  thought.  For  it  is  deemed  absolutely 
necessary  to  one's  well-being  both  in  this  world  and  in  the 
next  to  have  children,  no  matter  how  they  are  begotten.  If 
a  man  has  no  son  by  his  wife  he  feels  compelled  to  take 
another  wife,  or  several  more.  Polygamy,  the  immorality  of 
which  no  heathen  will  admit,  is  justified  in  this  way.  In  Toba 
a  girl  who  has  had  a  pre-nuptial  child  is  more  desired  than 
another,  because  she  has  proved  her  ability  to  bear  offspring. 
Sexual  intercourse  before  marriage  is  commended  to  prove 
whether  the  woman  is  capable  of  conception.  In  Borneo 
unchastity  is  carried  into  the  service  of  religious  worship. 
We  find  this  also  in  the  Lignam  cult.2  Siwa  is  worshipped 
under  the  symbol  of  the  power  of  generation.  The  Phallic 
worship  of  Egypt,  Greece  and  Rome  shows  how  immorality 
has  been   sanctioned   by  religion   in  many   heathen  cults.3 

1  An  Iboman  on  the  Upper  Niger  boasted  in  a  conversation:  "I  have 
slain  six  men  in  my  day,  how  many  have  yon  1 " 

2  Tiele,  "  Kompcndhun,"  p.  243.  3  Baumgarten,  "  Seneca,"  p.  212. 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM    129 

Heathen  myths  tell  of  the  immorality  of  the  gods  and 
demons  and  how  they  lie,  deceive,  and  commit  adultery  in 
emulation  of  men.  Even  thieves  and  robbers  had  their 
deity  to  whom,  with  all  naivete,  they  prayed  for  success  in 
their  projects. 

Animistic  heathenism  lacks  knowledge  of  good  and  evil, 
because  it  has  ruled  God  out  of  its  estimate  of  custom.  A 
reference  to  God  certainly  is  made  in  oaths  and  in  trial  by 
ordeal,  and  it  seems  as  if  there  was  a  moral  judgment 
demanded  of  Him.  But  even  there  the  question  is,  at 
bottom,  the  maintenance  of  the  custom.  God,  the  highest 
court  of  appeal,  standing  above  the  ancestors,  takes  care  that 
the  modus  vivendi,  represented  by  the  tradition,  is  respected. 
But  yet  it  may  be  said  that  here  there  is  a  presentiment  of 
a  real  moral  court  of  appeal  ;  that  a  deeper  thought  is 
imported,  inasmuch  as  the  custom,  by  the  form  of  the  oath, 
makes  appeal  to  God  as  judge.  Moral  feeling  otherwise 
is  little  affected  by  it.  The  individual  has  no  sense  at  all 
of  responsibility  towards  God.  God  has  no  voice  in  what 
he  must  do  or  forbear  doing.  There  is  no  allusion  to  moral 
retribution  except  in  the  case  of  oaths  and  trial  by  ordeal, 
and,  even  in  these,  retribution  is  looked  for  in  this  life  only. 
The  other  world  is  but  a  shadowy  continuance  of  the  earthly 
life,  and  of  the  values  that  hold  good  here.  No  murderer  or 
adulterer,  or  perjurer  need  fear  punishment  there.  The  only 
ones  who  look  forward  to  a  dreary  fate  are  the  poor,  the 
leper,  the  childless  ;  and  that  because  their  life  on  earth  is 
despicable.  They  do  not  believe  that  God  will  judge  the 
dead  ;  and  that  destroys  the  very  foundation  of  morality.1' 
The  concepts,  good  and  evil,  have  no  contents  determined  by 
a  divine  authority.  The  estimates  of  them  vary  hopelessly ; 
and  their  place  is  filled  by  the  far  more  important  questions 
of  rich  or  poor,  with  or  without  descendants,  honoured  or 
despised. 

Any    moral    judgment    of    the    individual   is    absolutely 

1  Hanke  says  of  the  Papuans  :  "  Of  what  use  could  it  be  for  men  with  their 
opinions  to  be  good.     All  go  to  one  place,  and  whether  good  or  bad    the 
souls  become  white  ants,  or  trees,  or  creeping  plants." 
I 


/ 


130      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

dependent  on  the  opinion  of  the  community  of  which  he 
is  a  member.  No  thought  or  will  of  his  own  goes  to  its 
shaping.  The  individual  sonl  with  his  own  responsibility, 
his  own  decision,  has  not  yet  come  to  life  among  animistic 
peoples.  Hence  the  all-powerful,  tyrannical  might  of 
custom.  This  complicated  tradition  that  has  ruled,  un- 
changed for  centuries,  lies  like  a  curse  on  primitive  peoples, 
and  kills  every  moral  movement.  Should  any  scruple  of 
conscience  emerge,  it  is  stifled  at  once  by  this  fatalistic 
strait  waistcoat.  Their  conscience  is  a  signpost  whose 
writing  has  been  obliterated.  The  heathen  are  like  stamped 
coins  with  one  single  image  and  superscription.  There  are  no 
separate  individualities  among  them,  only  national  types,  and 
these  over  whole  portions  of  the  world  have  common  features. 

It  follows,  from  what  has  been  said,  that  animistic  and 
polytheistic  heathenism,  with  all  its  religiousness,  is  not 
i  religion  in  the  sense  of  a  relation  to  God ;  it  is  pure 
I  worldliness.  Interest  in  this  world,  in  the  acquisition  and 
'  maintenance  of  its  benefits,  determines  the  nature  of  this 
religion.  The  largest  place  in  it  is  taken  by  the  cult  of  the 
soul.  That,  and  not  the  worship  of  God  is  the  common 
good ;  that  gives  the  religious  colouring  to  daily  life.  Its 
pleasures  are  purely  mundane.  The  Animist  is  pious  after 
the  thought  of  his  religion  when  he  struggles  on  to  a  good 
old  age,  and  gains  a  large  share  of  whatever  seems  precious 
to  the  primitive  man.  But  the  heart,  the  immortal  part  of 
him,  remains  unaffected.  The  soul-stuff  is  material,  its 
hygienic  treatment  mechanical  and  mediated  magically. 
The  greatest  defect  of  Animism  is  its  assessment  of  the 
earthly  life  as  the  highest  good.  The  Battaks  say,  "  Man 
comes  to  earth  to  eat  rice."  Their  needs  do  not  go  beyond 
nourishment  and  well-being.  They  are  not  attracted,  they 
are  repelled  by  the  supernatural.  They  avoid  it,  except  so 
far  as  any  contact  with  it  may  have  significance  for  their 
bodily  weal.  Nothing  but  anxiety  for  the  preservation  of 
earthly  good  gives  a  religious  appearance  to  this  materialism 
through  their  arrangements  with  the  world  of  spirits. 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM    131 

For  even  when  sacrifices  and  prayers  are  offered  to  higher 
powers  the  object  is  to  obtain  material  benefits,  such  as 
healthy  descendants,  increase  of  flocks  of  cattle,  abundant 
harvests,  and  victory.  To  obtain  such  benefits  and  remain 
in  undisturbed  possession  of  them,  it  is  absolutely  necessary 
to  invoke  the  dreaded  deities  and  spirits,  and  make  offerings 
to  them,  however  little  one  may  feel  drawn  to  them.  Nottrott 
says  of  the  Kols :  "  To  maintain  possession  of  their  goods,  and 
to  ward  off  all  evil,  are  the  ends  of  their  religiousness.  They 
do  not  serve  their  gods,  but  make  these  gods  serve  them,  and 
with  this  end  in  view  they  offer  them  sacrifices.  Their  wor- 
ship is  the  most  pronounced  egoism  in  the  form  of  religious 
usage."  Sundermann  says  :  "  When  I  speak  of  the  Niassers' 
worship  I  must  first  remark  that  real  religious  feeling  has 
almost  nothing  to  do  with  it.  We  must  leave  almost  entirely 
out  of  account  a  genuine  religious  need  of  entering  into  and 
abiding  in  union  with  supernatural  beings.  They  have  lost 
all  deeper  feeling  for  a  supernatural  world,  and  even  for  a 
life  after  death,  as  young  Christians  have  often  confessed 
to  me."  Animistic  faith  and  worship  contain  nothing  of 
what  we  usually  understand  by  religious  needs.1 

Religion  is  not  deepened  by  any  belief  in  another  world. 
All  that  lies  beyond  the  grave  is  uncertain,  and  signifies  only 
a  fading  away  of  the  earthly  life.  The  gloomy  notions  about 
the  kingdom  of  the  dead  and  the  shadowy  life  of  the  dead, 
their  dependence  on  the  liberality  of  their  descendants,  and 
their  envy,  all  these  prove  that  only  life  on  earth  is  valued. 
No  action  of  theirs  is  determined  by  motives  drawn  from  the 
prospect  of  another  life.  No  sacrifice,  no  prayer  gains  depth 
from  any  glance  at  the  life  after  death.  No  one  expects 
from  the  life  to  come  what  this  life  has  failed  to  give.     The 

1  We  are  told  the  same  thing  of  the  old  Indians:  "That  which  the  old 
Indian  Aryans  desired  of  their  gods  was  victory  over  their  enemies,  booty  in 
war,  bands  of  brave  heroes  for  the  battle,  and,  therefore,  an  abundance  of 
male  descendants  ;  in  peace,  good  harvests,  and  great  families  of  splendid 
children  (Dilger,  A.M.Z.,  1890,  p.  507).  The  following  is  the  prayer  of  a 
Ewe  negro  to  God  :  "  Give  to  me,  and  I  will  give  to  thee  ;  refuse  me,  and  I 
will  refuse  thee.  Give  me  first  something  to  eat,  and  I  will  give  thee  some- 
thing in  return  "  (Spieth,  "  Die  Ewe-Stamme,"  p.  426). 


132      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

continued  existence  of  the  dead  is  not  called  life.     No  union 
with  God  is  there,  for   there  is  no  Divine  Judge,  no  Life 
Giver.     Absolute  hopelessness 1  stares  the  dying  in  the  face  ; 
and  it  is  borne  with  a  dull  apathy  which  shows  that  none 
has   dreamt   of  making   any  claims   on   that   other   world. 
There  is  but  one  life,  the  present  life,  and  happy  is  he  who 
enjoys  it.     The  prosperous  are  unfortunate  in  that  they  must 
leave  their  treasures  and  possess  nought  but  the  shadow  of 
gifts  scantily  dispensed.     But  thrice  unhappy  are  the  poor  or 
the  sick,  for  a  continuance  and  intensification  of  their  suffer- 
ings awaits  them  there.     Their  religion  cannot  help  them  to 
any  more  precious  and  abiding  blessings.     This  heathenism 
has  no  belief  in  immortality,  for  even  that  dream-like  life  in 
the  kingdom  of  the  dead  is  ultimately  quenched.    This  shows 
very  clearly  how  dead  and  unfruitful  the  idea  of  God  has 
become  in  Animism ;   it  is  unable  to  produce  any  thoughts  or 
any  hopes  of  life.      God  is  removed  too  far  away  for  men  to 
make  the  daring  claim  for  a  life  that  should  endure.     God 
troubles   not   Himself  about   the    life   and  welfare   of  His 
creatures.     All  the  scattered  traces  of  deeper  religious  feel- 
ing found   in   Animism   disappear   at   the   grave.     To   love 
his  life  ;  that  is  the  quintessence  of  animistic  wisdom.     But 
the  disciples  of  that  wisdom  only  reap  disappointment,  for 
He  who  is  the  truth   passes   sentence   of  death    on    every 

1  The  dirge  of  the  Niassers  is  a  touching  expression  of  hopelessness. 

"  Cast  away  the  corpse  and  the  sorrow, 
Cast  away  the  dead  great  and  small, 
Trouble  not  thy  soul, 
Trouble  not  the  heart  within  thee, 
Thou  art  not  the  only  one  severely  hit, 

Thou  art  not  alone  in  such  distress, 

Death  passes  from  tribe  to  tribe, 

Death  hastens  from  house  to  house, 

It  is  therefore  our  common  experience, 

We  grow  up  to  be  food  for  worms, 

We  live  to  be  fodder  for  vermin, 

Has  this  earth  no  place  where  men  need  not  die  ? 

Where  is  there  but  a  protecting  nook, 

Where  man  will  not  be  the  prey  of  death." 

Fries,  "  Rundbrief,"  1908,  p.  2  f. 


FEATURES  OF  ANIMISTIC  HEATHENISM    133 

religion  whose  interests  are  of  earth,  when  He  says  :  "  Who- 
soever loveth  his  life  shall  lose  it." 

Ignorance,  lies,  estrangement  from  God,  bondage,  selfish- 
ness, immorality,  worldliness  of  disposition,  these  are  the 
decisive  marks  of  animistic  heathenism  which  the  messenger 
of  the  Gospel  must  keep  clearly  before  him.  Heathenism  is 
not  unveiled  to  him  as  a  lower  stage  of  religion,  capable  of 
improvement,  but  a  power  incompatible  with  true  religious 
life,  a  power  which  forces  into  its  service  that  portion  of 
mankind  that  is  out  of  fellowship  with  Christ.  Its  ruling 
effort  is  not  towards  God  and  communion  with  Him,  but  is 
an  opposition  to  the  living  God  that  becomes  greater  through 
the  centuries. 

Is  the  picture  too  dark?      Is  justice   not   done   to   the 
elements  of  truth  which  heathenism  contains?      We  have 
ventured  to  mention  some  of  these,  and  Protestant  mission 
work  is  not  blind  to  them.     A  longing  and  a  seeking  for 
God  gleams  here  and   there   through   all  animistic  distor- 
tions.    That  is  specially  the  case  with  the  idea  of  God,  which 
is  in  contradiction  with  animistic  beliefs.     The  longing  is 
revealed  by  the  uncertainty  of  the  heathen's  convictions,  by 
his  dissatisfaction,  and  by  the  remembrance  of  a  better  con- 
dition in  former  days.     Anyone  desiring  to  win  the  heathen 
to  Christianity  will  rejoice  to  recognise,  to  collect  and  to  use 
these  rays  of  light.     But  a  true  judgment  refuses  to  give 
them  the  first  place.     These  are  not  the  impelling  forces  of 
heathenism  ;    not  to  them  does  it  owe  its  power  over  the 
people.     The  purer  idea  of  God  has  contributed  nothing  to 
the  education  of  animistic  peoples ;  and  it  has  been  unable 
to  preserve  heathenism,  even  in  its  most  pious  representatives, 
from  a  growing  estrangement  from  God.     The  essence  of 
heathenism  to-day  is  determined  by  Godlessness,  not  by  that 
dim  longing  after  the  true  God,  and  it  derives  its  character- 
istic marks  from  Godlessness.     Its  powers,  born  of  earth, 
drag   downwards,   not   upwards.      For,  that   mighty  forces 
bear  sway  in  heathenism  is  experienced  by  missions  in  every 
region,  powers  which  ever  widen  the  gulf  between  God  and 
man.     If  the  Gospel  were  willing,  in  the  hope  of  promoting 


134      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

a  better  understanding,  to  make  coneessions  in  its  estimate 
of  heathenism,  it  would  impoverish  itself  without  enriching 
heathenism.  Christianity  and  heathenism  confront  each 
other  as  hostile  powers,  which  must  have  an  exact  know- 
ledge of  each  other  and  then  cross  swords  in  a  hard  battle 
till  the  weaker  of  the  two  succumb.  The  following  pages 
will  show  how  far  in  this  conflict  those  isolated  elements  of 
truth  are  fitted  to  become  the  allies  of  the  Gospel. 


II.  FIRST  CONTACT  BETWEEN 
CHRISTIANITY  AND  HEATHENISM 

A.  HEATHENISM  IN  AN  ATTITUDE  OF 
OPPOSITION 

The  Gospel,  uninvited,  goes  to  heathenism,  and  by  a 
simple  offer  of  its  truth  calls  for  surrender,  convinced  that 
the  fortress  of  heathenism  will  fall  before  the  trumpet  blast 
of  the  gospel  proclamation.  What  then  is  the  attitude  of 
animistic  heathenism  ?  The  heathen  have  been  occupied 
with  thoughts  about  God  and  His  worship  ;  they  have  been 
scrupulous  in  their  observance  of  religious  usages  ;  they  have 
made  their  whole  life  a  religious  ceremonial.  Should  we 
not  expect  that  the  Gospel  would  gain  their  assent  as  soon 
as  they  heard  its  message.  Must  they  not  exclaim  :  Here  is 
what  our  fathers  racked  their  brains  for  and  whose  lack  we 
have  painfully  felt ;  you  bring  us  the  God  whom  we  have 
sought  so  long  in  vain  ?  Yes,  if  heathenism  were  what  we 
might  construct  from  the  stunted  elements  of  truth  in  it. 
But  the  animistic  heathen  by  no  means  fall  into  the  arms  of 
Christianity ;  rather  they  withstand  it  actively  or  passively. 
Its  absolute  rejection  of  the  Gospel  when  first  presented  is 
a  clear  proof  that  those  nobler  features  of  heathenism,  its 
search  after  God  and  its  religiousness,  which  should  have 
predisposed  it  in  favour  of  Christianity,  are  not  the  decisive 
marks  of  its  nature.  The  elements  of  truth  in  animistic 
religion  are  not  strong  enough  to  open  the  hearts  of  its 
worshippers  to  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel.  Of  course, 
heathenism  does  not  always  aggressively  assail  the  Gospel 
and  its  messengers,  for  fanaticism  is  not  one  of  its  character- 
istics, and  where  open  conflicts  arise,  very  often  they  are  the 
outcome  of  other  motives.  But  the  experience  of  mission 
work  shows  that  nowhere  has  heathenism,  at  the  first,  any 

135 


/, 


136      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

desire  to  know  anything  about  the  new  religion.  A  closer 
acquaintance  with  Animism  shows  us  that  it  could  not  be 
otherwise. 

Christianity  sets  before  the  heathen  something  entirely 
strange  and  unintelligible  to  them.  Let  us  endeavour  to 
get  a  clear  conception  of  the  enormous  gulf  between  the 
messenger  of  the  Gospel  and  the  hearers  of  his  message. 
The  Animist  rejects  at  once  every  foreign  religion,  not  indeed 
because  he  is  convinced  of  the  superiority  of  his  own.  No  : 
he  believes  that  every  nation  has  its  own  national  gods  and 
its  own  hereditary  religion,  which  is  inalienably  suited  to 
it  as  its  land,  its  language,  and  its  customs.  The  European 
'  has  his  religion  ;  it  is  good  for  him  as  the  religion  of  the 
Battak  is  for  the  Battak,  and  the  religion  of  the  Niasser  for 
the  Niasser.1  For  the  Romans  of  the  Empire  every  foreign 
religion  had  an  attraction  because  it  was  foreign,  but  for 
the  heathen  every  foreign  religion  is  repellent  for  the  same 
reason.  To  accept  the  religion  of  another  nation  one  must 
become  a  member  of  that  nation.  That  only  happens  to 
those  sold  as  slaves  to  a  foreign  nation ;  these  have  lost 
their  nationality  ;  they  have  exchanged  it  for  that  of  their 
masters.  All  religious  matters  are  decided  by  the  nation  to 
which  one  belongs.  And  now  comes  a  man  of  foreign 
nationality  with  new  unintelligible  customs ;  he  praises  his 
strange  religion  as  the  only  true  religion,  and  declares  that 
this  religion  is  better  for  brown  and  black  people  than  even 
their  own.  The  natives  will  mostly  reason  thus :  to  adopt 
this  new  religion  we  must  become  Europeans.2  The  state 
of  matters  among  a  primitive  people  is  entirely  different  from 
that  with  which  the  Apostles  and  their  successors  had  to 
deal.     The  idea  of  a  national  religion  binding  on  all  members 

1  The  Papuans  replied  to  the  Rhine  missionaries  :  "  That  is  no  doubt  good 
for  you  white  people,  but  not  for  us  blacks  ;  you  have  your  customs  and  we 
have  ours."  The  Mentawey  Islanders  replied  to  Lett  the  missionary,  when 
he  was  declaiming  against  the  hanging  of  witches  :  "  Why  should  you  white 
people  trouble  yourselves  about  our  customs  ?  .  .  .  everyone  has  his  own 
custom."  We  are  constantly  coming  on  the  same  answer  in  missionary 
literature. 

2  We  often  read  in  mission  reports  of  such  sayings  by  the  natives. 


HEATHENISM  IN  ATTITUDE  OF  OPPOSITION     137 

of  the  nation  was  in  their  day  disappearing;  the  individual 
was  free  to  decide,  independent  of  any  national  obligation, 
what  religion  he  would  accept.  Their  own  religion  had 
fallen  into  discredit ;  they  were  eclectics  in  religion  selecting 
the  best  elements  from  all  religions  ;  while  the  idea  that 
there  was  a  universal  religion  higher  and  purer  than  any  of 
those  existing  paved  the  way  for  Christianity.  The  mis- 
sionaries of  the  early  Church,  wherever  they  went,  found  at 
least  a  readiness  to  examine  the  new  religion  and  see  whether 
it  answered  to  their  hopes  and  desires.  The  animistic 
heathen  is  not  expecting  any  new  religion.  He  is  bound  by 
his  national  religion,  in  which  the  individual  has  no  need 
to  take  up  a  personal  position.  Mission  work  to-day  is 
confronted  with  much  the  same  conditions  as  mission  work 
in  the  Middle  Ages  had  to  face  in  Central  Europe.  In 
describing  the  Franks,  Burgundians,  Anglo-Saxons  and 
Saxons,  Hauck  describes  the  heathenism  of  primitive  peoples 
of  to-day.  "  It  is  not  the  individual  but  the  whole  people 
who  decide  whether  they  shall  belong  to  this  or  that  church." 
"  The  old  mission  methods  were  bound  to  fail  among 
peoples  in  whom  the  sense  of  individuality  was  very  slightly 
developed,  and  where  the  spiritual  dependence  of  the  indi- 
vidual, on  the  whole,  was  hardfj  shaken.  Religion,  here, 
was  still  part  of  the  national  custom  from  which  the 
individual  neither  could  nor  would  detach  himself.  That 
involved  a  change  of  method  on  the  part  of  mission  work. 
It  could  not  as  formerly  advance  from  the  individual  to  the 
whole,  but  had  to  win  the  whole  in  order  to  reach  the 
individual.1  The  acceptance  of  Christianity  by  a  decree  of  the 
people,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Burgundians,  has  been  very 
frequently  repeated  in  mission  work  among  the  Germans ;  it 
may  almost  be  said  to  have  been  the  typical  way  in  which 
Germans  became  Christians."  "  As  the  mission  methods  of 
the  early  Church  were  in  keeping  with  the  fact  that  the 
time  of  the  Roman  Empire  was  an  epoch  of  the  most  in- 
tense  individualisation,  so  the  way  in  which  the   Germans 

1  A.  Hauck,  "  Altkirchliche  und  mittelalterliche  Missionsmethode,  A.M.Z. 
1901,  p.  378. 


138      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

accepted  Christianity  was  in  keeping  with  the  fact,  that 
among  them  the  solidarity  of  the  nation  imposing  itself 
upon  the  individual  was  incomparably  more  vigorous  than 
personal  individuality.  We  cannot  presuppose  the  final  fruit 
of  culture  —  which  is  individualisation  —  in  those  who  are 
taking  the  first  step  on  the  path  of  culture."  In  like  manner 
modern  missions  deal  with  undeveloped  peoples,  who  are  not 
free  to  put  themselves  in  opposition  to  their  religion,  which 
is  the  possession  and  sanctuary  of  the  nation.  Fries,  the 
missionary  at  Sifaoroasi  (Nias),  writes :  "In  any  possible 
change  of  religion  no  one  will  decide  on  his  own  responsi- 
bility ;  it  is  the  counsel  of  elders,  who  must  decide,  for  among 
our  Niassers  religion  is  wholly  a  national  affair.  The  alter- 
native for  the  several  clans  is  all  or  none.  The  close  union 
of  the  tribe  relieves  the  individual  of  responsibility,  but  it 
robs  him  also  of  the  freedom  of  individual  decision.  The 
genius  of  our  Gospel,  on  the  other  hand,  is  to  lay  hold  of  the 
individual."  The  individual  is  not  free  enough  to  abandon 
his  religion  at  his  pleasure ;  he  would  thereby  be  withdraw- 
ing himself  from  the  national  union.1  The  Animist  must,  at 
the  first,  reject  any  preaching  that  separates  religion  from 
nationality,  and  demands  from  the  individual  a  free  decision. 
Moreover,  the  adherents  of  natural  religion  are  conserva- 
tive in  the  most  rigorous  sense  of  the  word.  Their  religion, 
as  already  shown,  is  tradition,  and  a  religious  man  is  one  who 
observes  the  tradition.  Religion  does  not  mean  a  personal 
j  relation  to  the  far-off  gods,  but  an  observance  of  the  custom. 
vThe  adat  (custom)  is  the  holy,  though  unwritten  book,  of 
which  the  ancestors  were  the  authors,  and  are  now  the  strict 
guardians.  A  change  of  religion  would  be  a  momentous 
rupture  with  the  carefully-guarded  tradition,  unless  one  at 
the  same  time  attached  himself  to  the  people  whose  religion 
he  adopted  ; 2  in  that  case,  one  would  enter  into  the  traditions 

1  Among  the  Battaks,  as  among  many  other  peoples,  those  who  first 
ventured  to  pass  over  to  Christianity  were  expelled  from  the  tribe. 

2  The  Prince  of  Onitsha,  on  the  Upper  Niger,  admitted  that  the  cruel 
usages  were  bad,  but  definitely  declared  that  he  could  not  possibly  abolish 
customs  which  he  had  inherited  from  his  fathers. 


HEATHENISM  IN  ATTITUDE  OF  OPPOSITION     139 

of  that  people,  would  be  under  obligation  to  venerate  its 
institutions,  would  accept  its  protecting  deities  as  his  own, 
and  would  thereby  be  protected  against  the  wrath  of  his  own 
national  gods,  that  is,  his  ancestors.  A  change  of  religion  is 
like  the  fate  of  a  slave  who  changes  his  master.  The  new 
master  into  whose  family  and  tribe  he  enters  undertakes  to  pro- 
tect him.1     But  everything  in  the  heathen  resists  such  a  step. 

Recall  the  fact  that  the  worship  of  the  Animist  is  essentially 
ancestor  worship.  No  Animist,  at  first,  can  form  any  other 
notion  of  the  Christian  religion  than  that  it  represents  the 
deities  of  another  nation  and  the  ancestors  of  another  people. 
How  can  one  with  their  mode  of  thinking  change  his 
religion,  which  means  really  to  adopt  other  ancestors.  A 
man  has  his  own  forefathers,  and  cannot  change  them.  The 
European  has  his  ancestors,  and  the  Indonesian  his.  Primi- 
tive man  never  dreams  of  trying  to  convert  people  of  another 
nationality  to  his  religion.  Their  forefathers  are  different. 
The  proselytising  zeal  of  the  white  man  must  therefore  strike 
him  as  very  strange. 

Though  the  attitude  of  primitive  peoples  is  one  of  opposi- 
tion to  every  other  religion,  Christianity  cannot  but  appear 
to  them  specially  strange.  Europeans  are  its  messengers 
and  preachers.  Primitive  man  is  inherently  suspicious,  and 
distrusts  the  European  profoundly.  The  foreigner,  equipped, 
he  thinks,  with  supernatural  powers  and  immeasurable  riches, 
far  superior  to  him  in  wisdom,  the  master  of  unimaginable 
arts,  surely  comes  to  defraud  and  rob  the  poor  coloured 
man.  "Accustomed  from  the  beginning  of  his  days  to  be 
continually  deceived  and  exploited  by  the  clever  and  the 
strong  among  his  own  people,  he  is  quite  justified  in 
meeting  anyone  wiser  than  himself  with  great  caution." 
This  distrust  is  the  deeper  wherever  white  planters  or 
merchants  have  preceded  the  missionary,  or  where  the  mis- 

1  The  Chinese,  the  most  Conservative  heathen  in  the  world,  can  be  more 
easily  won  to  Christianity  when  abroad  than  when  in  China,  because  they 
have  left  behind  them  their  ancestors,  and  the  whole  sacred  tradition  con- 
nected with  them.  The  slackening  of  the  political  bond  makes  it  easier  to 
break  the  religious. 


140      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

sionary  is  followed  by  the  establishment  of  a  colonial  govern- 
ment, whose  blessing  the  primitive  man  does  not  at  once  see. 
They  think  it  natural  that  foreign  missionaries  should  have 
their  own  different  religion,  but  that  they  should  wish  the 
natives  to  adopt  it  instead  of  Animism  is  something  unheard 
of.  The  foreign  custom  is,  no  doubt,  suited  to  the  wise  and 
mighty  white  people.  But  how  can  it  be  suited  to  poor  and 
ignorant  Battaks  or  Alfurus  ?  Can  the  brown  man  become 
white  ? 

The  missionary  (we  are  speaking  here  of  the  first  contact 
with  a  people  who  have  had  no  missionary  previously)  has  at 
first  a  very  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  language,  and  his 
message  is  often  misunderstood,  or  not  understood  at  all. 
He  acquires  painfully  a  few  words  ;  he  uses  them  in  a  sense 
different  from  that  given  to  them  by  the  natives,  and  with 
a  psychological  reference  they  do  not  understand.  He  finds, 
for  example,  a  word  for  sin ;  he  never  suspects  that  they 
associate  the  word  with  a  totally  different  idea.  He  uses 
Christian  terms,  such  as  faith,  guilt,  forgiveness ;  and  every 
necessary  presupposition  for  their  understanding  is  lacking 
in  their  religion.  The  language  is  one  of  the  greatest 
obstacles  to  even  the  most  elementary  preaching  of  the 
Gospel.  In  many  mission  fields  decades  pass  before  even 
the  right  word  is  found  for  God.1  It  is  only  by  residing  in 
the  land  for  years,  by  persistent  study  of  the  outward  and 
inward  life  of  the  people,  and  by  relentless  self-criticism, 
that  the  missionaries  come  to  see  the  errors  into  which  at 
first  they  fell  in  all  simplicity.  The  missionary  has  even  less 
chance  of  being  understood  if  he  employs  an  interpreter. 

1  We  are  told  of  a  painful  but  instructive  experience  of  that  kind  in  the 
mission  to  the  Herero.  When  the  first  missionaries  were  looking  out  for 
a  fitting  word  for  God,  they  often  heard  the  word  Mukuru,  and  thought 
this  was  the  word  they  were  in  search  of.  They  adopted  it  as  the  name  of 
the  Christian  God.  It  was  afterwards  discovered  that  this  was  not  the  name 
given  by  the  Herero  to  the  God  of  heaven  and  of  earth,  of  whom  the  Herero 
knew,  but  the  name  of  the  ancestors  of  the  tribe.  Great  chiefs  were  also 
called  Mukuru.  God,  who  is  over  all,  is  called  Ndjambi  Karunga,  the  good 
Creator,  the  word  that  had  been  sought.  How  much  misunderstanding, 
nay,  vexation,  may  have  been  caused  by  the  free  use  of  this  word  for  years, 
and  how  olteu  may  it  have  destroyed  the  effect  of  the  Gospel  message  ! 


HEATHENISM  IN  ATTITUDE  OF  OPPOSITION     141 

What  wonder  the  heathen  reject  a  message  erroneously  ex- 
pounded which,  from  the  first,  awoke  their  distrust.1 

And  now,  supposing  that  the  message  has  been  heard, 
what  of  its  contents  ?  It  sets  forth  ideas  as  important  which 
have  hitherto  been  utterly  remote  from  the  heathen.  They 
don't  hear  of  a  religion  interested  in  the  earth ;  they  hear 
nothing  about  the  way  to  become  rich  and  happy,  or  how  to 
preserve  one's  soul  power  through  all  dangers ;  they  hear 
instead  of  a  relation  to  God,  of  sin  and  forgiveness,  of 
resurrection  and  life  after  death  and  final  judgment,  pure 
novelties,  which  to  the  heathen  intent  on  this  world  seem  to 
be  sheer  foolishness.2  The  new  religion  speaks  of  blessings 
for  which  they  have  no  desire  and  depreciates  those  which 
they  deem  precious.  The  new  preaching  turns  all  their 
religious  thinking  upside  down.  Absolute  unintelligence 
stares  from  the  eyes  of  his  hearers  on  the  evangelist.  Then 
also  the  message  is  directed  to  the  individual,  to  the  poor  as 
well  as  to  the  rich,  to  slaves  as  well  as  to  their  masters ; 
it  says  the  same  thing  to  all,  calling  upon  them  to  make  a 
personal  decision.  All  this  works  together  to  make  the 
proffered  Gospel  strange  and  uncongenial. 

The  Mohammedan  propaganda  has  many  advantages  over 
the  Christian.  In  the  great  majority  of  cases  it  is  carried  on 
by  members  of  the  people  whose  conversion  is  sought,  and 
therefore  has  not  the  savour  of  an  exotic.  The  missionary 
and  those  among  whom  he  labours  understand  each  other. 
The  heathen  sees  from  his  Mohammedan  fellow-countryman 
that  the  change  is  not  dangerous,  and  that  it  does  not 
involve  the  loss  of  one's  nationality  or  of  the  custom  estab- 
lished in  ancestor  worship,  Mohammedanism  does  not  exact 
from  the  heathen  a  revolution  of  his  religious  ideas  ;  it  leaves 

1  The  state  of  things  is  more  favourable  when  the  Gospel  is  brought  to  the 
heathen  by  one  of  their  own  people.  The  Gospel  has  spread  quicker,  and 
found  more  open  ears  and  hearts  among  tho  Battaks  since  mission  work  was 
carried  on  by  native  evangelists.  The  native  is  not  only  a  more  intelligible 
preacher  ;  his  whole  life  is  a  convincing  sermon  of  the  new  religion. 

2  The  heathen  Betshuans  received  Moffat's  preaching  at  first  with  peals  of 
laughter.  His  statements  about  creation,  the  fall,  redemption,  all  sounded 
to  them  unspeakably  insipid.  Moffat  felt  that  he  was  like  a  peasant  attempt- 
ing to  plough  a  granite  rock. 


142      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

him — at  least  in  the  Indian  Archipelago — his  ancestors  and 
demons,  his  magic  and  sacrifices,  his  immorality  and  national 
sins.  It  only  demands  a  mechanical  observance  of  certain 
rites,  washings,  fastings,  prayers  towards  Mecca,  and  a  care- 
fulness not  to  eat  swine  flesh.  The  prohibition  of  a  certain 
food  is  something  the  Animist  can  easily  understand  ;  his  own 
religion  has  numbers  of  such  prohibitions.  His  separation 
from  the  old  worship  is  only  in  external  things,  and  the 
change  of  religion  is  made  as  convenient  as  possible.  Islam 
does  not  demand  from  its  heathen  converts  any  inward 
appropriation. 

There  is  the  crux  felt  at  the  very  first  contact  with 
Christianity.  Its  central  fact  requires  to  be  understood, 
though  in  a  very  elementary  way,  before  anyone  can  resolve 
to  embrace  it.  But  the  heathen  have  no  desire  to  under- 
stand it ;  they  will  not  take  the  trouble  to  think  about  it ; 
they  assume  that  the  religion  of  their  fathers  is  quite  suffi- 
cient for  them.  None  of  them  has  ever  felt  the  need  of 
changing  his  religion.  When  the  missionary  Burton  first 
entered  the  heathen  Battak  land  in  1824,  and  explained  his 
object  to  a  great  meeting  in  Silindung,  when  he  spoke  to 
them  of  God,  the  Creator,  and  Jesus  the  Redeemer,  they 
answered  politely  but  decidedly  :  "  What  you  say  may  be 
good,  but  it  is  not  for  us  ;  we  shall  not  leave  the  way  of  our 
fathers,  for  it  is  good  for  us."  He  had  to  withdraw  without 
effecting  anything.  Foreign  missionaries  often  get  the  answer: 
"  Your  words  are  good,  very  good,"  but  it  is  a  polite  phrase 
not  seriously  meant.1  Manifestly,  therefore,  the  tree  of 
animistic  heathenism  cannot  be  brought  down  by  one  stroke. 
Missionaries  must  be  prepared  for  long,  patient  labour  before 
the  heathen  get  even  a  dim  perception  of  what  the  Gospel 
seeks  to  give  them. 

1  The  Toradja  will  assure  you  that  all  you  say  is  true,  that  all  his  customs 
and  festivals  are  but  tales  and  lies  of  his  forefathers,  that  the  Dutch  are  wise 
people  who  know  all  things,  while  they  are  stupid  and  know  nothing.  But 
if  you  accept  their  statement,  and  say:  Well,  if  you  recognise  that  God's 
Word  is  true,  why  do  you  not  follow  it?  they  will  look  at  you  as  if  they 
would  say  :  Are  you  not  satisfied  with  my  admitting  that  you  were  right ; 
what  more  would  you  have  ? 


HEATHENISM  IN  ATTITUDE  OF  OPPOSITION     143 

A  greater  hindrance  still  to  the  acceptance  of  Christianity 
is  the  heathen's  utter  want  of  interest  in  spiritual  things. 
Their  religiousness  is  a  doctrine  of  material  happiness  with 
earthly  aims  and  means.  There  is  very  little  seeking  for 
God  or  for  truth  in  it.  They  often  say  plainly,  If  you 
bring  us  a  religion  that  will  make  us  rich  and  strong ;  if  you 
guarantee  us  numerous  sons  or  the  position  of  a  distinguished 
chief,  we  shall  become  Christians.  The  missionary  is  bitterly 
disappointed  by  this  earthly-mindedness,  this  deadness  to 
higher  interests.  But  we  must  never  forget  that  worldliness 
is  the  essence  of  animistic  heathenism.  The  heathen  is 
religious  for  earthly  ends.  Confronted  with  a  religion 
dealing  with  spiritual  benefits,  he  inevitably  puts  little  value 
on  it ;  he  rejects  it  because  it  promises  him  nothing  of  that 
which  he  has  been  accustomed  to  look  for  from  his  own 
religion.  Only  a  fool  would  pass  over  to  a  religion  which 
yielded  him  no  profit.1  It  was  in  virtue  of  the  falsehood 
inherent  in  their  heathen  religion  that  they  were  quite 
satisfied  with  it.  Particular  failures  of  sorcery  or  fruitless 
sacrifice  to  those  who  took  part  in  them  were  no  proof  of 
deception.2  Animists  are  firmly  convinced  that  help  can  be 
purchased  from  higher  powers  by  sacrifices  and  ceremonies. 
No  one  expects  anything  from  the  life  to  come.  There  is  no 
desire  for  eternal  blessings,  or  rather  any  such  desire  has 
been  extinguished  in  the  service  of  materialism.  A  heathen 
can  form  no  conception  of  a  religion  of  spiritual  benefits, 
and  therefore  at  first  they  suppose  that  Christianity  is  like 
their  own  religion,  a  religion  for  securing  earthly  blessings. 

1  The  heathen  Betshuans  quite  openly  replied  to  Moffat,  The  new  customs 
you  preach  cannot  fill  the  stomach.  The  Papuans  used  similar  language  to 
their  missionaries. 

2  If  you  remind  a  Kamba  that,  in  spite  of  talismans,  people  are  killed  in 
battle  and  die  of  disease,  he  will  give  you  the  answer  I  once  got.  You 
give  medicine,  and  yet  men  die.  They  are  helpful  in  some  cases.  It  is  the 
same  with  our  talismans  ;  they  are  medicines.  Who  knows  how  often  they 
have  been  the  means  of  help  ?  (Brutzer).  A  Toradja  chief  said  to  Kruyt  the 
missionary  :  "  You  ask  God  for  what  you  want ;  sometimes  He  grants  your 
request,  sometimes  not.  We  pray  to  our  gods  for  what  we  want ;  sometimes 
they  grant  our  request,  sometimes  not.  You  see  that  Christianity  and 
heathenism  are  quite  the  same. " 


144      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

Its  adherents  become  rich  and  powerful ;  see  the  white  men 
who  wield  its  inherent  powers  of  magic.  Simon,  the  mis- 
sionary, on  digging  a  well  at  Bandor  (east  coast  of  Sumatra), 
was  regarded  as  a  mighty  magician.  The  Niassers  believed 
that  the  missionaries  were  in  possession  of  great  means  of 
magic,  which  of  course  they  concealed.  The  Damra  regarded 
H.  Hahn,  the  missionary,  as  a  great  magician.  The  Papuans 
even  regarded  the  missionaries  as  spirits.  They  saw  in  the 
coffee  of  Hoffmann,  the  missionary,  a  medicine  which  was 
a  protection  from  epidemics,  and  called  on  Missionary  Kunze 
to  heal  a  sick  person  in  the  words,  "  Kunze,  give  orders  that 
he  may  be  healed."  The  heathen  would  gladly  become 
Christians  if  they  were  made  thereby  richer,  healthier,  and 
stronger  through  the  magic  power  of  Christianity,  if  they 
lived  longer  and  had  more  descendants.  Otherwise,  what 
end  is  to  be  served  by  the  change  ? 

Add  to  all  this  the  vis  inertia,  nowhere  greater  than 
among  a  people  enervated  by  a  tropical  climate,  from  whom 
subjection  to  demons  and  fatalism  have  taken  away  the  little 
energy  that  once  perhaps  lay  in  the  cradle  of  its  ancestors. 
If  some  of  them  are  really  laid  hold  of  by  the  new  truth, 
how  are  they  to  brace  themselves  up  to  make  the  change 
and  embrace  a  religion  which  makes  the  greatest  demands 
on  the  will,  and  which  will  in  all  probability  involve  them 
in  inconveniences,  privations,  and  martyrdom  ?  Animistic 
peoples  are  entirely  different  from  Germans,  Romans,  and 
Sclavs.  They  do  not  know  what  energy  of  will  is ;  they 
have  no  name  for  it.  How  are  they  to  accept  a  religion 
which  can  only  be  embraced  by  a  vigorous  will  ?  Nothing 
is  more  uncongenial  to  the  Indonesian  than  vigorous  action 
involving  consequences.  He  endures  suffering  as  well  as 
any  man  if  it  must  be.  But  he  leaves  vigorous  action  to 
others.  Without  such  action,  however,  no  one  can  enter 
into  Christianity. 

Free  from  fanaticism  as  animistic  heathenism  generally 
is,  there  are  yet  some  rabid  opponents  of  Christianity.  These 
are  men  whose  influential  position  is  threatened — mainly 
chiefs.     Such  men  are  the  official  and  interested  guardians 


HEATHENISM  IN  ATTITUDE  OF  OPPOSITION     145 

of  custom,  and  they  look  forward  to  being  one  day  promoted 
to  ancestor  deities.  They  are  the  priests  who  represent  the 
people  in  the  presence  of  the  ancestor  deities,  and  who  are 
themselves  regarded  as  semi-deities.  In  them  the  con- 
servatism of  the  people  is  concentrated.  Often  they  receive 
divine  worship  even  in  this  life.1  Their  power  rests  first 
of  all  on  ancestor  worship,  and  then  on  the  sword  ;  and  they 
have  no  desire  to  abandon  lucrative  predatory  raids.  A 
chief  in  Samosir  said  to  me  quite  frankly,  "  Why  should  I 
become  a  Christian  ?  Whence  am  I  to  get  wealth  and 
power  if  I  give  up  waging  war  and  hunting  slaves  ?  "  The 
slave-holder,  the  tribal  prince  worshipped  as  a  semi-deity, 
and  the  capricious  tyrant  all  see  in  Christianity  a  disagreeable 
disturber  of  peace.  The  priests  and  magicians  are  still  more 
malicious  enemies ;  their  trade  is  threatened  with  the  loss 
of  its  enormous  profits  if  those  they  have  hitherto  deceived 
become  Christians.  Everywhere  these  men  are  inexorable 
enemies  of  the  missionaries  and  their  adherents.  Their 
whole  influence,  which  is  not  small,  together  with  all  their 
lying  arts,  is  employed  to  prevent  the  entrance  of  the  Gospel. 
Now  these  men  and  the  chiefs  are  the  rulers ;  where  they 
are  opponents  it  is  very  difficult  to  lead  their  subjects  to 
Christianity  and  protect  them  afterwards.  Converts  would 
find  themselves  involved  in  contention,  war,  law  suits,  and 
no  end  of  difficulties.  The  change  is  effected  most  smoothly 
where,  as  in  mediaeval  missions,  prince  and  people  unani- 
mously agree  to  accept  the  better  religion,  an  event  which 
has  not  been  repeated  in  any  complete  fashion  in  any  modern 
mission  field.2     Individual  heathen  who  venture  to  make 

1  We  are  thinking  of  African  despots  who  feel  that  their  throne  is  shaken 
when  their  subjects  become  Christian  and  cease  to  give  them  the  usual 
idolatrous  honour.  The  Indian  chiefs  are  also  honoured  by  their  people 
like  gods.  It  is  scarcely  possible  for  subjects  to  become  Christians  against 
the  will  of  the  despot ;  at  any  rate  a  Christian  community  cannot  per- 
manently prosper  in  such  an  atmosphere.  It  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
missionary  to  obtain  influence  over  the  heads  of  the  tribe  and  give  them 
special  attention.  By  so  doing  he  creates  the  conditions  for  successful 
results. 

2  It  need  hardly  be  said  that  we  are  not  pleading  for  an  outward  secession 
of  masses  of  people.     But  it  is  not  the  final  aim  of  missions  to  withdraw 

K 


146      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

the  change  must  be  prepared  to  endure  the  anger  and 
hostility  of  their  people  and  their  leaders.  Those  difficulties 
disappear  only  when  great  masses  turn  towards  the  Gospel,  as 
in  Sumatra,  Nias,  Celebes,  and  among  the  Kola  and  Karens. 
Insight  into  the  psychology  of  these  heathen  people  whose 
religious  thought  is  not  individualistic  but  communistic  sets 
the  much  abused  methods  of  mediaeval  missions  in  a  better 
light  than  that  in  which  they  are  usually  placed.  As  to-day 
among  animistic  people,  the  mediaeval  missionary  was  forced 
to  aim  at  a  decision  from  whole  tribes  and  nations,  and  it  was 
only  after  these  had  decided  as  a  whole  to  accept  the  new 
religion  that  the  educative  work  of  the  Church  began. 
Protestant  missions  have  been  unwilling  to  enter  on  this 
path,  having  an  honest  aversion  towards  it.  But  their 
actual  dealings  with  heathenism  of  a  lower  stage  have 
involved  them  in  embarrassment.  Quite  apart  from  their 
intention  and  desire  they  have  been  and  are  being  forced  to 
see  national  heathenism  in  its  totality  shattered  by  their 
labours  and  whole  societies  and  peoples  deciding  for  Christi- 
anity before  they  have  all  been  inwardly  renewed.  Hence 
our  grave  doubts  and  fears.  The  defect  of  papal  missions 
was  their  failure  to  infuse  the  new  spirit  into  the  masses 
won  outwardly.      But    Protestant   missions   surprised,    not 

individuals  from  the  society  of  their  people  and  lead  them  to  Christianity. 
It  seeks  to  bring  the  gifts  of  the  Gospel  to  the  whole  nation,  and  cannot  but 
rejoice  when  the  whole  nation  shows  a  readiness  to  receive  them.  That  can 
only  happen  where  prince  and  people  are  of  one  mind.  The  mission  of 
course  does  not  reject  individual  seceders,  who  are  of  great  importance  in  the 
struggle  with  heathenism,  but  it  hopes  for  the  harvest  of  the  whole.  The 
communistic  views  of  the  people  encourages  the  hope  that  once  a  movement 
towards  Christianity  begins,  the  people  as  a  whole  will  effect  the  change  ; 
this  of  course  will  entail  new  dangers  and  new  duties  for  mission  work. 
After  sixteen  years  of  patient  work  by  the  London  Missionary  Society  in 
Tahiti,  King  Pomore  raised  Christianity,  at  a  stroke,  to  the  religion  of  the 
State  before  a  single  islander  was  baptised.  Bechler,  speaking  of  the  old 
Indian  Mission,  says  :  "  The  natives  of  Goschgoschunk,  in  a  general  meeting 
of  council,  were  ready  to  decide  to  pass  over  in  a  body  to  Christianity.  But 
Zeisberger  did  not  agree,  as  he  thought  the  action  unevangelical.  He 
declared  that  each  must  decide  in  his  own  heart."  People  then  were 
opposed  to  secession  in  the  mass.  To-day  the  opinions  of  the  Moravian 
brethren  are  different,  for  Bechler  blames  Zeisberger,  and  says  that  even  he 
at  a  later  time  laboured  for  the  Christianising  of  the  nation. 


HEATHENISM  IN  ATTITUDE  OF  OPPOSITION     14/ 

always  joyfully,  at  the  effect  of  their  preaching,  are  now 
becoming  conscious  that  the  hardest  part  of  their  work,  the 
training  of  the  individual  in  faith  and  Christian  life  is  after 
the  nation  as  a  whole  has  accepted  the  new  faith,  and  must 
be  prosecuted  vigorously  then. 

Over  against  the  warm,  clear,  moral  purity  of  Christianity 
animistic  heathenism  stands  out  dark,  loveless,  selfish.  We 
would  expect  the  new  religion  to  commend  itself  there.  It 
invites  them,  even  apart  from  any  closer  acquaintance  with 
the  Christian  God,  to  put  themselves  under  the  influence  of 
His  holy  laws.  The  deeper  we  peer  into  the  swamp  of 
heathen  barbarity  the  more  ready  shall  we  be  to  think  that 
these  poor,  misled  creatures  must,  if  only  the  clear  mirror  of 
the  Divine  Commandments  be  held  up  to  them,  stretch  out 
hands  of  desire  for  such  purity.  But  the  experience  of 
foreign  missionaries  is  not  so.  The  moral  superiority  of  the 
Gospel  is  not  felt  by  the  Auimist  and  only  in  rare  cases  is 
the  starting  point  of  the  change  there.  Even  in  those 
heathen  Christian  communities  where  there  is  a  genuine 
Christian  life  the  practice  of  Christian  morality  falls  into  the 
background  behind  the  new  religious  exercises.  To  appre- 
ciate the  morals  of  Christianity  requires  a  measure  of 
spiritual  intelligence  up  to  which  the  converts,  from  the 
nature  of  things,  must  gradually  grow.  The  dull  eye  of  the 
heathen  must  be  made  clear  before  he  can  see  the  matchless 
beauty  of  Christian  morality.  We  have  only  to  realise  the 
true  nature  of  heathenism  to  see  that  not  there  is  the  lever 
to  be  set. 

All  heathen  peoples  are  satisfied  with  the  morals  they  / 
have.  Anyone  who  is  not  intimate  with  them  and  who 
listens  to  their  beautiful  proverbs  and  fables,  who  observes 
their  national  virtues  and  sees  the  indignation  with  which 
they  condemn  a  thief,  a  deceiver,  or  an  adulterer,  would  be 
led  to  believe  that  they  had  a  knowledge  of  right  and  wrong. 
They  will  hardly  admit  that  the  Christian  commandments 
have  anything  to  say  to  them  that  is  essentially  new.  They 
unreservedly  accept  the  Christian  moral  law  in  principle,  for 


148      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

it  gives  them  no  impression  of  a  superior  morality.  They 
assent  emphatically  to  the  decalogue  when  it  is  announced 
to  them.  We  missionaries  often  enough  hear  them  say : 
"We  knew  all  that  long  ago  from  our  fathers."  A  heathen 
can  speak  with  such  moral  conviction  that  an  inexperienced 
preacher  might  almost  think  he  had  underestimated  his 
moral  capacity.  Remnants  of  moral  consciousness  still 
exist  in  the  heart  of  the  heathen  such  as  enable  it  to 
deceive  itself  and  others  into  the  belief  that  it  has  the  same 
moral  law  as  Christianity.  No  entrance  to  the  self-righteous 
heart  of  the  heathen  is  found  by  extolling  the  morals  of 
Christianity.  Only,  long  after  they  have  become  Christians, 
they  admit  blushingly  the  lowness  of  heathen  morals.  Among 
civilised  peoples  the  conviction  of  their  own  sufficient  morality 
is  perhaps  still  stronger.  The  religions  of  India,  China,  and 
Japan  have  produced  notable  virtues.  If  the  missionary 
merely  serves  up  moral  sermons  he  will  often  enough  be 
covered  with  scorn  or  repelled  with  anger.  Listen  to  one 
who  is  a  reliable  authority  on  this  matter,  the  Japanese 
heathen  Christian  Kanso  Utschimura.  After  referring 
with  some  optimism  to  the  fact  that  morality  may  be  found 
even  among  Japanese  heathen,  he  continues:  "Christianity 
proves,  by  giving  power  to  keep  the  law,  that  it  is  greater 
and  higher  than  heathenism.  It  is  heathenism  plus  life. 
The  Christian  religion  is  the  spirit  of  the  law.  It  alone 
works  from  within  outwards.  It  is  that  for  which  heathen- 
ism has  been  searching  and  groping  with  tears.  It  not  only 
shows  us  what  is  good,  it  makes  ns  good,  for  it  leads  us  to 
the  Eternal  Good  itself.  It  not  only  shows  us  the  right 
way,  it  gives  us  life  ;  it  not  only  provides  the  rails,  it  provides 
the  locomotive.  Human  experience  has  found  no  other 
name  under  heaven  whereby  we  must  be  saved  than  the 
name  of  Jesus.  Of  moral  doctrines  we  have  enough ;  any 
doctor  of  philosophy  can  furnish  them  for  good  payment, 
and  we  do  not  need  to  learn  from  a  professor  that  we  should 
not  steal.  Christianity  to  me,  at  least,  is  deliverance  from 
sin  through  the  reconciling  grace  of  the  Son  of  God."  l 

1  Kanso  Utschinmru,  "  Wie  ich  em  Christen  wurde, "  p.  113. 


HEATHENISM  IN  ATTITUDE  OF  OPPOSITION     149 

Animistic  heathen  have  not  entirely  lost  the  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil,  but  their  conscience  is  perverted.  Their 
mind  assents  to  the  Christian  commandments  as  self-evident, 
because  serviceable  for  social  life.  But  the  conscience  does 
not  react  on  them  because  no  one  feels  that  they  apply  to 
him.  No  moral  preaching  can  regenerate  a  conscience 
perverted  by  national  custom,  nor  any  moral  example,  not 
even  the  example  of  the  Holy  Son  of  Man  Himself.  Any 
nobler  metal  in  heathen  morals  lacks  power  of  enforcement. 
The  heathen  does  not  take  seriously  the  virtues  about  which 
he  speaks  so  fluently.  Most  of  the  moral  obligations  in 
their  social  life  spring  from  egoism.  Self-preservation  forces 
them  to  set  up  some  police  regulations.1  Such  virtues  are 
really  brilliant  vices,  threadbare  cloaks  which  barely  conceal 
the  moral  emptiness  within. 

But  should  the  missionary  preach  to  the  heathen  of  the 
virtues  of  the  heart — love,  mercy,  meekness,  honesty — his 
words  would  be  to  them  as  an  unknown  tongue  whereof  no 
one  had  the  key.  To  inculcate  love  for  one's  neighbour  can 
make  no  impression  on  men  who  are  cannibals  and  head- 
hunters.  To  hold  up  chastity  before  an  unchaste  people  is 
as  useless  as  to  show  good  soap  to  the  unclean.  A  chief 
with  a  harem  of  sixty  wives  was  made  an  enemy  by  the 
missionary  extolling  the  grandeur  of  marriage.  It  is  useless 
to  demonstrate  the  vulgarity  of  lying  to  men  addicted  to 
lying.2     The  hearers  of  a  moralising  preacher  may  agree  with 

1  Merensky  says  of  the  Transvaal  Basuto  that  selfishness  has  taught  him  to 
make  arrangements  for  the  security  of  life  and  property.  Theft,  outrage, 
and  injury  are  therefore  severely  punished,  but  not  from  any  sense  of  com- 
mon interests  or  righteousness.  Wherever  they  are  not  deterred  by  legal 
restraints,  as  in  regard  to  the  foreigner,  they  rob  and  steal  and  murder 
without  compunctiou. 

1  Merensky  tells  of  his  first  meeting  with  Umswasi,  King  of  Swasiland. 
After  listening  to  God's  commandments  he  exclaimed  :  "The  commandment, 
"Thou  shalt  not  kill,"  does  not  suit  me  and  my  people.  I  must  be  able  to 
kill  when  I  want  to  kill.  How  am  I  to  punish  a  messenger  who  does  not 
promptly  execute  his  message,  and  what  are  my  soldiers  to  eat  if  military 
expeditions  are  to  cease  ?  "  The  missionaries'  explanation  that  we  must  keep 
God's  commandments  and  that  Christian  natioss  have  become  great  and 
mighty  by  keeping  them,  he  broke  in  upon  with  the  words,  "  We  Swasi  have 


150      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

him  for  politeness  sake,  for  so  custom  demands,1  but  no 
deeper  impression  is  made. 

One  thing  he  may  secure.  His  hearers  will  admit,  "all 
you  say  is  good  and  needful  for  my  neighbour,  but  it  is 
superfluous  for  myself,  for  I  am  good.  I  am  as  upright  as 
that,  stretching  a  finger  of  his  right  hand  into  the  air.  No 
heathen  will  readily  admit  that  he  lacks  a  right  disposition. 
Their  self-blindness  and  self-righteousness  is  incredible.2 
Chiefs  in  Sumatra,  who  were  notorious  for  predatory  raids 
and  cruelty,  who  conducted  slave-hunts  in  the  basest  fashion, 
and  caused  innocent  persons  to  die  in  prison  of  starvation, 
would  never  admit  to  me  that  they  had  done  wrong.  They 
assured  me  that  they  were  absolutely  right ;  they  were  acting 
in  vindication  of  just  interests,  self-defence,  etc.3  The  con- 
always  so  done."  An  excited  Papuan  answered  Kunze,  the  missionary,  "Yes 
my  heart  is  bad,  and  I  mean  it  to  remain  bad  ;  I  side  with  the  lie.  Why  do 
you  come  here  to  disturb  us  ?  Why  do  you  speak  of  Jesus  ?  We  are  Barak 
people,  therefore  be  silent." 

1  Nothing  more  depresses  the  missionary  than  this  tremendous  politeness 
which  turns  aside  all  one  says  :  "  What  you  say  is  very  good,  very  true  ;  yes, 
we  are  very  bad  and  must  be  changed  ;  our  custom  is  from  the  devil,  etc." 
Open  contradiction  can  be  more  easily  overcome  than  such  slippery  lies. 
Politeness  belongs  to  the  lying  nature  of  heathenism.  The  Animist  is  made 
polite  by  fear  of  the  vengeance  of  those  who  are  slighted,  by  fear  of  secret 
powers,  of  the  soul  power  of  his  fellows,  of  curses,  of  evil  influences  and  the 
like.  For  the  same  reason  he  often  exhibits  an  astonishing  power  of  self- 
control.  The  virtues  of  politeness  and  self-control  spring  therefore  from 
unadulterated  egotism  and  are  in  point  of  fact  "brilliant  vices." 

2  A  Papuan  replied  to  the  missionary  Hanke  :  "You  are  always  speaking 
about  sin,  but  I  have  no  sin  ;  I  do  not  keep  company  with  strange  women  ;  I 
am  an  excellent  man."  The  Congo  negroes  believed  that  the  missionary 
Richards  was  a  sinner  and  that  the  neighbouring  tribes  did  evil,  but  they 
absolutely  refused  to  admit  such  things  of  themselves.  The  Betshuans 
exhibit  the  utmost  self-righteousness.  They  admit  that  sinners  may  be 
found  among  the  Bushmen  and  Hottentots,  but  there  are  none  among  the 
Betshuans.  The  Papuans  in  Dutch  New  Guinea  admit  that  all  other  tribes 
except  themselves  are  bad. 

3  When  the  missionary  Richards  explained  the  ten  commandments  to  the 
Congo  negroes  they  acknowledged  them  to  be  very  good,  and  maintained 
that  they  had  never  transgressed  them.  A  negro  who  was  caught  in  the 
act  of  stealing  was  asked  whether  he  had  not  stolen,  answered  indignantly, 
"  Do  you  call  that  stealing.  The  white  man  wants  to  brand  me  a  thief  and 
deprive  me  of  my  good  name."  The  preaching  of  the  law  proves  totally  un- 
impressive. 


HEATHENISM  IN  ATTITUDE  OF  OPPOSITION     151 

science  does  not  answer  to  the  purer  note  of  the  Divine  com- 
mandment. What  help  can  moral  preaching  give  in  such 
ingrained  sins  of  custom  ? :  Men  who  are  utterly  brutalised 
have  lost  susceptibility  for  true  morality. 

Moral  preaching  can  make  no  impression  on  animistic 
heathen,  and  that  chiefly  because  their  moral  and  their  un- 
moral ideas  are  both  rooted  in  the  religious  world  of  ideas 
which  rests  on  animism.  So  long  as  their  minds  are  filled 
with  animistic  ideas  they  must  remain  unaffected  by  morals 
of  another  type.2  When  the  head-hunter  strikes  off  the  head 
of  his  victim  and  hangs  it  up  in  his  hut,  he  believes  that  by 
so  doing  he  will  gain  for  himself  the  vital  power  of  the  slain 
man,  an  elixir  of  life.  Such  an  act  is  only  worthy  of  praise. 
The  cannibal  firmly  believes  that  he  is  doing  a  good  work 
which  yields  him  "  life."  How  can  the  heathen  admit  that 
they  are  doing  wrong  in  all  that  brutal  egotism  of  theirs  so 
long  as  they  are  not  convinced  of  the  error  of  their  pre- 
supposition ?  Deep-rooted  diseases  like  these  are  not  cured 
by  a  treatment  of  the  symptoms.  When  a  married  pair  have 
no  children  it  is  a  sign  that  their  souls  are  not  in  harmony 
and  the  marriage  must  be  dissolved.  So  long  as  marriage  is 
viewed  in  that  light  it  is  utterly  useless  to  proclaim  its 
sacredness.  Animistic  religion  sanctions  lies  and  selfishness. 
If  a  Battak,  who  has  cruelly  killed  a  child  with  the  view  of 
preparing  a  charm  from  its  corpse,3  be  reproached  for  the 
brutality  of  his  deed  he  would  simply  say,  or,  perhaps,  being 
a  polite  man,  would  only  think,  you  do  not  understand ;  your 
customs  may  not  allow  that,  for  you  have  other  means  of 
procuring  life;  but  to  us  it  is  salutary.  The  evangelist 
cannot  appeal  to  a  conscience  based  on  such  misguided 
religious  convictions. 

1  When  Moffat  asked  one  of  his  Betshuan  converts  if  lie  had  never  felt  a 
beating  of  the  heart,  a  consciousness  of  guilt  or  responsibility  in  his  sinful 
abominations,  he  answered,  "How  could  we  feel  anything?  We  did  not 
know  that  an  invisible  eye  was  seeing  us  and  an  invisible  ear  was  hearing  us. 
You  found  us  like  wild  beasts,  not  like  men." 

-  The  heathen  Christians  become  new  men  ^morally  only  so  far  as  they 
succeed  in  vanquishing  the  animistic  idea  of  the  soul  by  Christian  modes  of 
thought.  s  Of.  p.  68  f. 


152      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

Wherever  moral  emotions  are  met  with  in  heathenism  they 
have  for  the  most  part  their  origin  in  fear,  not  however  fear 
of  God,  but  of  evil  spirits,  fear  of  the  vigilant  ancestors  or  of 
the  souls  of  offended  fellowinen.  No  Battak  will  readily 
venture  on  a  false  oath,  because  he  fears  the  vengeance  of 
the  ancestors  or  the  deities.  Adultery  is  scarcely  found  on 
Nias,  at  least  among  the  common  people,  because  the  offended 
party  insists  upon  the  penalty  of  a  cruel  death.1  They  do 
not  willingly  perform  anything  unusual,  because  the  attention 
of  the  ancestors  would  be  drawn  to  it.2  Popular  as  stealing 
is,  the  art  is  practised  only  in  secret,  for  the  detected  thief 
knows  that  a  heavy  penance  is  awaiting  him.  Adultery 
among  the  Battaks  and  many  other  Indonesian  peoples  is 
very  risky — at  least  among  the  common  people,  the  upper 
man  can  do  anything — for  the  adulterer  caught  in  the  act 
may  be  struck  down,  "  like  a  pig  in  the  rice-field." 

Chastity  is  not  regarded  as  a  virtue,  but  a  man  is  afraid  to 
touch  his  neighbour's  wife.  No  one  in  any  given  case  will 
shrink  from  murder,  for  little  value  is  put  upon  life  ;  but  only 
the  strong  and  powerful  have  full  freedom  to  kill.  The  same 
fear  which  makes  the  heathen  cruel  and  brutal  makes  him 
in  other  circumstances  put  a  curb  upon  his  passions.  No  one 
who  knows  the  real  state  of  things  will  be  misled  by  the 
statistics  of  crime,  for  egoism  makes  them  cautious.  Fear 
dictates  a  prudence  which  has  little  to  do  with5  morals.  The 
Animist  cannot  conceive  the  idea  of  a  man  being  impelled  by 
an  inward  motive  to  do  good  or  to  avoid  evil. 

Custom  is  the  authority  to  which  the  Animist  submits.3 
Wherever  the  moral  law  of  the  Christian  is  set  by  the  side  of 
heathen  custom  he  does  not  recognise  its  superiority.     But 

1  In  connection  with  this  subject  the  state  of  matters  is  exactly  the  same 
on  Nias  as  in  Sumatra.  The  mighty  can  do  anything.  The  moral  command- 
ments preached  with  such  emphasis  are  binding  only  on  the  defenceless 
multitude. 

2  The  worst  thing  that  one  can  say  of  a  Battak  is  that  he  lias  done  some- 
thing that  was  never  done  before,  something  "unheard  of."  That  does  not 
mean  that  ho  has  done  something  bad,  but  something  that  violates  the 
tradition. 

3  Of.  p.  12G  f. 


HEATHENISM  IN  ATTITUDE  OF  OPPOSITION     153 

wherever,  as  often  happens,  it  comes  into  collision  with 
custom,  moral  preaching  has  no  effect  upon  him,  so  long  as 
the  custom,  which  the  ancestors  protect,  is  still  respected, 
that  is  to  say,  so  long  as  the  people  are  dominated  by  ancestor 
worship  and  ancestor  belief.  Nay,  they  will  take  up  a  dis- 
tinctly hostile  attitude.  The  perception  of  this  is  sufficient 
to  chill  moral  preachers  in  the  heathen  world.  Their  preaching 
thus  cannot  fail  to  wound  heathen  feeling.  Many  sacred 
customs  are  assailed  by  Christianity,  such  as  polygamy, 
slavery,  revenge  for  bloodshed,  witchcraft,  child  marriage, 
judgments  of  God.  Immoral  things  such  as  these  are  not 
felt  to  be  immoral,  but  rather  holy  traditions.  The  Gospel, 
from  its  first  announcement,  arrays  itself  against  such  usages ; 
it  does  so  even  without  any  direct  polemic ;  and  thereby  it 
gives  grievous  offence,  and  not  only  to  the  evil  disposed.1 
They  do  not  deny  that  the  missionary  adorns  his  "  custom." 
The  walk  of  the  messenger  may  commend  his  words,  but  if 
he  ask  the  natives  to  change  their  customs  he  is  told  that 
every  land  has  its  own  customs  with  which  it  is  satisfied. 
"  We  are  Battaks,"  the  heathen  of  Sumatra  said,  setting  aside 
in  this  way  every  appeal  to  their  conscience.  That  settled 
the  matter  for  them  quite  satisfactorily.  When  Battak 
evangelists  visited  the  savage  Pakpak  tribe  they  discovered 
that  the  Pakpaks  were  in  the  habit  of  strangling  their  parents 
and  eating  them  when  they  became  old.  The  Christians  were 
shocked,  and  upbraided  them  with  their  inhumanity  ;  but  the 
Pakpaks,  with  the  best  conscience  possible,  replied,  "Every 
people  has  its  own  custom,  and  that  is  ours,"  and  the  thing 
was  settled.2  All  moral  influence  rebounds,  as  from  a  rock, 
from  this  "  custom,"  a  custom  which  is  a  far  harder  tyrant 
than   the   customs   of  the    most   conservative   of  Christian 

1  A  Niasser  replied  to  the  missionary  :  "At  your  speech  one's  hair  rose  on 
end.  If  you  had  only  come  sooner  before  our  fathers  had  fixed  our  custom 
we  should  not  then  have  known  these  customs  of  ours,  which  are  now  so 
difficult  to  lay  aside." 

2  The  Bangala  on  the  Upper  Congo  are  eager  cannibals.  They  are  not 
ashamed  of  it,  and  said  with  all  naivete  to  the  indignant  missionary :  "You 
eat  fowls,  we  eat  men,  where  is  the  difference."  A  Battak  proverb  says  : 
"  Every  region  has  its  own  products,  and  every  land  its  own  custom." 


154      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

countries,  because  it  is  based  upon  religion.  Here  the  Gospel 
strikes  against  the  strongest  tower  of  the  heathen  fortress. 

When  a  heathen  is  confronted  with  Christian  morals  he 
does  not  see  the  good  of  them.1  But  even  when  they  are 
brought  home  to  him  and  he  owns  their  excellence,  he  is  by 
no  means  willing  to  make  them  his  own.  They  demand  of 
him  a  conflict  with  the  national  customs  and  with  his  own 
heart  which  he  had  no  desire  to  enter  upon,  which  he  cannot 
enter  upon  so  long  as  no  power  is  given  to  him  from  outside 
himself.  When  I  was  preaching  the  Gospel  among  the 
people  of  Samosir,  then  entirely  heathen,  a  thoughtful  man 
who  regularly  attended  our  service  came  to  me  one  day  and 
said,  "  I  would  like  very  much  to  become  a  Christian,  for  I 
see  that  the  new  way  is  good,  but  I  am  not,  and  never  will 
be  able  to  do  so."  "  Why  not,"  I  asked,  "if  you  see  that  the 
Christian  religion  is  good."  He  answered,  "  You  have  often 
told  us  that  we  must  forgive  our  enemies  ;  that  God  will  not 
forgive  our  faults  if  we  do  not  forgive  our  debtors.  Now, 
I  have  an  enemy  who  formerly  killed  my  son,  and  I  cannot 
forgive  him ;  so  I  can  never  be  a  Christian."  This  man, 
therefore,  for  the  time  anyhow,  was  held  back  by  the  moral 
consequences  of  the  Gospel.  The  ethical  demands  of  Chris- 
tianity make  it  very  difficult  for  the  heathen,  who  has  grown 
up  in  sin  and  caprice  and  is  fettered  by  custom,  to  accept 
the  new  religion,  even  when  he  sees  it  to  be  true. 

One  of  the  main  opponents  of  Christian  morality  is  the 
determinism  that  adheres  to  Animism.2  He  who  knows  the 
power  it  has  over  their  minds  will  despair  of  mere  moral 
preaching.  The  Animist  may  be  forced  to  admit  that  his 
walk  is  defective,  but  remains  firmly  convinced  that,  just  as 
he  is  with  all  his  faults  and  evil  habits,  he  was  created  by 
God  ;  that  his  disposition  is  foreordained  and  fixed  unchange- 
ably, and  that  he  cannot  change  his  conduct  in  the  very  least. 
What  then  is  the  use  of  trying  to  persuade  him  to  change  his 

1  The  missionaries  told  the  heathen  of  Samosir  that  they  brought  them  a 
new  doctrine,  which  had  the  power  of  so  changing  the  heart  that  one  could 
be  always  honest.  This  prospect,  however,  did  not  attract,  and  a  chief  put 
the  characteristic  question,  "  What  is  the  reward  for  being  houest?" 

2  Cf.  p.  107  ff. 


HEATHENISM  IN  ATTITUDE  OF  OPPOSITION     155 

ways,  and  to  give  up  this  or  that  sin.  Quite  logically,  he 
bids  you,  "apply  to  God  who  perhaps  can  make  me  dif- 
ferent, I  cannot,  for  I  was  created  the  man  I  am."  The 
missionary  is  startled  at  first  by  the  cynical  challenge  of 
some  scoundrel,  "  pray  earnestly  to  God  that  he  may  change 
my  heart."  But,  as  a  determinist,  the  man  cannot  think 
otherwise ;  it  is  not  frivolity,  but  the  logical  outcome  of  his 
religion.  If  we  began  by  preaching  repentance,  we  would, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  heathen,  be  applying  to  the  wrong 
address,  for  man  cannot  change  his  heart.  As  fatalism  is 
widely  diffused  over  the  earth,  these  statements  will  apply  to 
many  mission  fields.  For  the  preaching  of  morality,  it  is 
necessary  that  the  hearers  believe  in  man's  moral  freedom 
and  responsibility.  The  Animist,  however,  is  not  free  ;  he  is 
driven  by  his  lot,  that  primal  gift  which  predestined  one  to 
be  an  adulterer,  another  to  be  a  murderer,  a  third  to  be  a 
thief.  Hence,  he  feels  no  guilt.  He  dreads  no  punishment 
in  the  other  world,  and  on  earth  he  has  only  to  beware  of 
the  vengeance  of  those  he  has  offended.  Fatalism  must  be 
broken  up,  and  the  heart  Won  to  faith  in  the  living  God  and 
in  moral  freedom  before  we  can  speak  to  these  over-religious 
men  of  any  change  of  mind. 

Heathenism  cannot  be  reached  from  the  moral  side. 
Christianity  may  bring  a  perfect  morality  ;  but  its  moral 
powers,  which  renew  the  soul,  have,  at  the  first,  no  effect 
upon  the  heart  of  the  animistic  heathen.  Utschimuru  is  not 
the  only  one  who  testifies  that  it  is  not  the  morality  of  the 
Gospel  which  attracts.  An  Indian  missionary  tells  us  that  he 
made  trial  of  his  hearers  with  the  law.  They  became  angry 
and  said,  "let  him  preach  the  law  to  his  own  people  who  have 
much  need  of  it."  "  I  have  often,"  he  says,  "tried  to  preach 
the  law,  that  is,  to  awaken  the  knowledge  of  sin  so  as  to 
reveal  to  them  the  need  of  a  Saviour.  But  I  have  never  been 
able  to  forget  an  answer  which  I  got  from  a  heathen  in  great 
anger.  He  said,  '  We  have  a  religion  which  makes  great 
demands  upon  us  in  money,  cattle,  sacrifices,  mortifications, 
fasts,  prayers,  washings,  pilgrimages.  We  meet  all  these 
demands.      We    have   a    king   who   imposes   taxes   on    us, 


156      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

and  demands  money,  grain,  and  compulsory  service.  We 
do  all  that  he  asks.  We  have  a  government  which  saddles 
us  with  policemen  and  police  arrangements.  We  groan  and 
bear  it  all.  And  now  you  come  with  frightful  demands 
which  put  all  the  others  in  the  shade.  It  is  cruel  to  torture, 
with  the  terrors  of  the  law,  the  heathen  who  have  grown  up 
in  fear  and  terror  all  their  life.'  " 

The  Gospel  has  little  prospect  of  being  welcomed  if  it 
comes  as  a  demand.  The  gifts  of  the  Gospel  must  first  be 
planted,  and  spring  up  as  good  seed  in  the  benumbed  heathen 
heart  before  that  heart  can  be  capable  of  moral  transforma- 
tion. The  man  who  seeks  to  move  the  rock  of  heathenism 
with  morals  is  using  the  wrong  lever.  Its  perverted  morality 
is  the  outcome  of  its  perverted  religion.  The  first  error  was 
its  departing  from  God.  Let  that  fundamental  defect  be 
remedied,  and  the  immoral  consequences  will  pass  away  of 
themselves.  When  we  restore  to  the  heathen  the  true  God, 
the  living  power  of  that  God  will  suppress  the  false  morality. 


B.  AGENCIES   THAT   CLEAR  THE   WAY 
FOR  CHRISTIANITY. 

Our  inquiry  has  shown  that  the  animistic  heathenism, 
misled  as  it  is  both  in  morals  and  in  religion,  views,  with 
coldness  and  distrust,  the  Christian  religion  which  it  cannot 
understand,  and  for  which  it  has  no  desire.  But  the  success 
of  foreign  missions  grows  from  year  to  year,  and  Christianity 
has  now  been  accepted,  not  only  by  individuals  in  defiance  of 
the  will  of  their  people,  but  by  entire  tribes  and  peoples. 
The  question  now  arises,  What  is  it  that  smooths  the  way 
for  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  spite  of  all  obstacles,  what 
is  it  that  opens  the  door  that  was  formerly  closed,  and  gives 
it  entrance  to  the  souls  of  heathen  peoples  ?  What  is  it  that 
draws  the  attention  of  the  indifferent  and  self-satisfied 
heathen  to  the  Gospel  as  something  worthy  of  their  con- 
sideration ?  The  forces  of  the  Gospel  that  become  effective 
in  heathenism,  and  the  way  in  which  they  act,  will  be  dis- 


AGENCIES  THAT  CLEAR  THE  WAY         157 

cussed  in  the  chapter  that  follows.  Our  present  object  is  to 
trace  the  preparatory  influences  that  begin  to  dispose  peoples 
and  individuals  to  God's  message.  Secondary  powers  work, 
of  course,  in  union  with  divine  powers  and  in  advance  of  i 
them.  God  works,  as  far  as  possible,  through  natural  and  ' 
explicable  second  causes.  The  Gospel  which  Jesus  com- 
mitted to  his  people  contained  a  divine  power  for  conquering 
the  world,  which  is  the  ultimate  reason  of  its  victory.  But 
the  Church  historian  would  be  seriously  at  fault  if  he  failed 
to  take  into  consideration,  as  effective  auxiliaries  of  the 
Gospel,  the  natural  mediating  causes,  such  as  the  unity  of 
law  and  language  of  the  Roman  Empire,  the  universal  peace, 
the  facilities  of  intercourse,  and  the  universal  longing  for  a 
divinely  authorised  religion.  In  the  mission  work  of  to-day, 
purely  spiritual,  as  well  as  secular  factors  are  at  work  also. 
To  be  able  to  throw  into  clear  relief  the  purely  spiritual 
powers  of  the  Gospel,  we  must  endeavour  to  disclose  the 
natural  forces  with  which  they  are  associated.  The  guiding 
hand  of  God  is  seen  in  their  concurrence. 

We  are  now  confronted  with  a  profusion  of  most  diverse 
causes  and  effects  all  interlaced  with  one  another.  For  the 
gratia  praeveniens  is  as  variously  developed  in  the  life  of  the 
individual  Christian,  as  7ro\v7r oik  1X09  rules  in  the  movements 
of  nations.  Guided  by  the  experience  of  missions  we  shall 
endeavour  to  bring  into  the  light  the  main  preparatory 
influences  as  far  as  that  is  possible  in  judging  of  historical 
events  that  are  still  running  their  course. 

Misery  in  various  forms  is  the  inseparable  attendant  of 
animistic  heathenism.  Christians  at  home  have  little  idea 
of  the  enormous  mass  and  frightful  severity  of  the  wretched- 
ness and  need  of  heathen  peoples  that  cry  to  heaven.  There 
is  no  longer  any  need  to  refute  the  legends  about  the  "  happy 
heathen,"  the  contented  joyous  children  of  nature.  But  the 
great  mass  of  misery  naturally  and  necessarily  connected 
with  heathenism  can  hardly  be  sufficiently  known,  and  it  is 
not  usually  inserted  in  the  accounts  of  theorisers  who  are 
more  taken  up  with  the  structure  of  heathen  thought  than 
with  the  practical  results  that  flow  from  it.     The  greater 


158      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

number  of  heathen  Battaks  are  so  poor  that  they  are  only 
kept  from  starvation  by  the  luxuriant  vegetation  of  the 
tropics.  The  propertied  classes  levy  200  per  cent,  from 
the  poor,  who  are  compelled  to  mortgage  their  rice  to  them, 
with  the  result  that  most  of  them  become  their  slaves  whom 
they  can  deal  with  as  they  please.  Slaves  are  called 
"children  of  cats,"  "children  of  pigs,"  and  are  often  worse 
treated  than  cattle,  which  are  of  value.  The  abominations 
of  African  slavery  are  well  known.  When  their  power 
permits  the  chiefs  are  inhuman  tyrants.  No  one  has  any 
idea  of  compassion  for  the  oppressed,  and  the  defenceless 
are  tortured  almost  to  death.  Woe  to  the  widow  and  the 
orphan,  the  weak  and  the  oppressed,  for  heathenism  grants 
them  no  advocate.  Animism  dazzles  us  with  its  interesting 
world  of  thought,  but  what  an  amount  of  misery,  of  tears 
and  blood,  it  pours  out  on  its  adherents.  Maustealing  and 
murder  in  the  service  of  spirit- worship,  revenge  for  blood- 
shed, persecution  of  witches,  cruelty,  falsehood,  deception, 
unrestrained  covetousness,  are  its  unavoidable  accompani- 
ments. Animism  compels  the  heathen  systematically  to 
torture  their  sick,1  it  degrades  woman,  poisons  family  life 
and  the  training  of  children,  it  leads  to  the  basest  selfish- 
ness, to  the  exploiting  of  the  defenceless,  and  the  reckless 
struggle  of  all  against  all.  It  robs  the  people  of  peace, 
|  embitters  men's  lives,  and  makes  them  melancholy  and 
stupid. 

The  heathen  have  a  dim  sense  of  their  misery.  They  do 
not  know  the  poisonous  root  from  which  their  want  of  peace 
and  their  torment  grows  ;  but  the  consequences  of  their 
heathenism  lie  heavy  on  them.     Men  are  now  coming  to 

1  Disease  is  caused  by  evil  spirits.  Hence  the  treatment  of  the  sick  aims 
at  driving  out  the  evil  spirits.  They  torture  the  poor  sick  man  by  surround- 
ing him  with  frightful  uproar,  hurrying  him  from  one  house  to  another, 
giving  him  nauseating  or  pungent  medicines  to  drink,  enveloping  him  in 
thick,  foul-smelling  smoke— all  to  drive  out  the  spirit  that  causes  the 
disease.  The  effect,  of  course,  often  is  that  the  patient  dies  under  the  treat- 
ment. Certain  patients,  those,  for  example,  seized  by  cholera,  and  lepers 
are  left  to  themselves  through  fear  of  infection.  The  Kols  are  just  as  heart- 
less towards  the  sick  because  evil  spirits  are  the  cause  of  the  disease 
(Jellinghaus,  "  Kols,"  p.  69). 


AGENCIES  THAT  CLEAR  THE  WAY         159 

them  who  sympathise  with  their  misery  and  are  eagerly 
desirous  to  allay  it.  The  oppressed  hear  a  message  which 
they  do  not  yet  understand,  but  they  perceive  that  it  means 
for  them  salvation.  The  great  misery  in  which  they  drag 
out  their  wretched  existence  opens  their  ears  to  a  message 
in  which  they  have  as  yet  no  religious  interest.  For  this 
cause  the  Gospel  has  much  greater  difficulty  in  finding  its 
way  to  the  hearts  of  the  ruling  and  well-to-do  classes.  The 
sense  of  misery  prepares  the  way  of  the  Gospel.  With  the 
instinct  of  the  child  they  divine  that  there  is  help  here  even 
though  they  are  not  promised  what  they  at  first  expect. 
Many  false  ideas  may  still  be  mixed  up  with  their  expecta- 
tions ;  nay,  they  may  be  wholly  on  a  false  track  ;  but  the 
ears  and  hearts  of  the  wretched  are  opened  to  the  foreign 
message.  So  was  it  with  many  of  those  who  appealed  to 
Jesus.  They  sought  healing  for  their  diseased  bodies  and 
found  something  of  infinitely  greater  value.  Among  the  halt 
and  maimed  Jesus  had  his  most  attentive  hearers.  The 
Gospel  then  as  now  was  preached  to  the  poor,  and  trials 
taught  men  to  bear  in  mind  its  sayings.  The  sense  of  misery, 
deepened  and  purified,  may  ultimately  lead  to  the  acceptance 
of  Christianity  ;  its  first  function  is  to  create  a  willingness 
to  hear ;  it  kindles  a  slight  hope  in  hearts  that  otherwise 
would  have  no  desire  to  know  anything  of  the  message. 

Among  the  Battaks,  as  well  as  on  Nias,  slaves  and  the 
socially  oppressed  were  the  first  to  lend  a  willing  ear  to  the 
Gospel  and  ultimately  to  venture  on  its  acceptance.  The 
chiefs  and  the  well-to-do  for  long  would  have  nothing  to  do 
with  Christianity  because  it  promised  them  no  gain ;  but  the 
poor  and  the  oppressed  soon  cried  to  the  missionaries  and 
evangelists,  Come  and  help  us.  That  is  more  or  less  the 
experience  of  all  missions.  In  India  the  ruling  nations  havei 
no  desire  to  hear  the  Gospel,  but  the  oppressed  Aboriginals, 
the  Kols,  and  Santals  are  led  by  their  great  need  to  be. 
attentive  hearers  of  the  soothing  Word.  That  is  several 
times  attested  of  the  Kols  by  Jellinghaus  and  Nottrott.1     A 

1  The  Javanese  of  central  Java  crowded  here  and  there  to  Christianity. 
One  motive  in  this  remarkable  movement  seems  to  have  been  that  the  people 


1G0      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

similar  testimony  is  given  by  Missionary  Hoch  of  the  Basler 
mission-field  in  India.  At  first  these  people  have  no  under- 
standing of  the  spiritual  blessings  of  the  Gospel,  or  it  is  lost 
sight  of  in  their  eagerness  for  temporal  benefits  which  they 
hope  to  get  by  becoming  Christians.  The  standing  answer 
which  people  of  this  sort  give  to  the  question,  why  do  they 
want  to  become  Christians  is,  we  want  to  prosper.  That  is 
probably  one  of  the  reasons  why  the  uncivilised  peoples  of 
to-day  who  are  burdened  with  social  misery  and  pain  are 
more  susceptible  to  the  Gospel  message  than  the  satiated 
civilised  peoples.  The  experience  in  the  mission-field  is  the 
i  same  as  in  Christendom ;  earthly  misery  causes  men  to 
stretch  out  their  hands  for  the  Gospel  gifts. 

Part  of  that  misery  is  famine.  The  famines  in  India  have 
repeatedly  contributed  to  the  spread  of  the  Gospel.  Many 
critics  have  ridiculed  the  "rice  Christians,"  and  in  some  cases 
perhaps  justly.  In  such  calamities  large  masses  of  heathen 
see,  perhaps  for  the  first  time,  mercy,  compassion,  and 
deliverance,  though  not  among  those  of  their  own  religion ; 
that  makes  them  attentive  to  the  Christianity  they  have 
hitherto  misjudged.  In  cases  of  disease  heathenism  utterly 
fails,  and  the  sick  have  a  bitter  cup  of  misery  to  drain. 
Medical  help  sought  from  missions  often  prepares  the  way 
of  the  Gospel,  as  we  hear  from  most  mission-fields.  Thus 
Missionary  Sundermann  declares  that,  on  the  Island  Nias, 
diseases  and  the  medicine  dispensed  by  the  missions  are  often 
effective  mission  agents,  and  in  heathen  regions  the  healing 
of  the  sick  is  often  the  means  of  leading  to  Christianity 
the  otherwise  inaccessible  heathen.  In  the  care  of  patients 
also,  missions  are  following  in  the  footsteps  of  their  Lord  who 
turned  away  none,  not  even  those  who  sought  Him  only  as 
the  Physician  of  the  body.  The  treatment  of  the  sick  should 
not  be  made  dependent  on  conditions.  Missions  freely  give 
what  they  have  freely  received.  That  God  owns,  often  in  a 
surprising  way,  the  medical  services  of  His  messengers  proves 

noticed  that  the  Christians  could  no  longer  be  oppressed  and  tricked  by  the 
chief's,  but  were  regarded  by  the  government  as  having  the  same  rights  as 
the  Mahommedans. 


AGENCIES  THAT  CLEAR  THE  WAY  161 

that  disease  and  the  help  it  gets  have  their  place  in  God's 
plan  of  saving  the  nations. 

Before  the  heathen  divine  the  connection  between  their 
irreligion  and  their  misery  they  are  heartily  sick  of  the  fruits 
of  it.  This  point  of  view  must  determine  our  judgment. 
The  misery  under  which  the  heathen  groan,  and  whose  pres- 
sure drives  them  to  the  Gospel  of  redemption,  is  a  fruit  of 
animistic  heathenism.  They  are  reaping  what  they  them- 
selves and  their  fathers  have  sown.  Hoch  says  of  Indian 
heathenism:  "The  anarchies  under  which  these  people 
suffer  are  in  great  part  a  fruit  of  Indian  heathenism.  It  is, 
therefore,  to  be  welcomed  as  a  sign  of  progress  that  at  length 
their  eyes  are  opening  to  the  disadvantages  of  their  inherited 
religion,  and  that  they  are  beginning  to  see  that  healing  for 
all  their  sufferings  is  to  be  found  only  in  Christianity.  We 
need  not  be  surprised  by  the  fact  that  it  is  outward  distress 
which  makes  them  think  of  passing  over  to  Christianity. 
We  know  what  a  mighty  power  the  necessities  of  this  life 
have  in  making  men  susceptible  to  the  Gospel.  Moreover, 
the  things  which  according  to  their  poor  understandings  they 
hope  chiefly  to  find  in  Christianity  are  in  themselves  un- 
objectionable. On  the  contrary,  they  are  valuable  and 
desirable  blessings  which  are  necessary  to  an  existence  worthy 
of  man  ;  nay,  they  are  blessings  that  must  be  described  as 
fruits  of  Christianity,  and  as  such  have  their  God-appointed 
significance  for  the  evangelising  of  the  heathen  world.  The 
manifold  blessings  which  this  life  owes  to  Christianity  un- 
mistakably reveals,  even  to  those  afar  off,  the  riches  of  the 
Gospel,  and  its  powers  of  blessing  for  the  renewal  of  man- 
kind." 

The  sufferings  of  uncivilised  peoples  are  increased  by  their 
wellnigh  continuous  wars,  tribal  feuds,  and  revenge  for 
bloodshed,  for  "peace  they  know  not."  The  longing  for 
peace  on  Sumatra  and  Nias  has  often  contributed  to  make 
those  weary  of  war  willing  to  accept  the  Gospel.  The 
promise  "  peace  on  earth "  has  to  them  a  pleasant  sound, 
and  the  longing  for  outward  peace  plays  a  large  part  in  the 
opening  of  their  ears  to  its  conditions. 

L 


162      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

All  this  misery  is  as  a  ploughshare  breaking  up  the  hard 
earth.  It  must  not  be  supposed  that  in  Protestant  missions 
the  miserable  are  received  into  the  church  simply  because 
they  feel  themselves  to  be  miserable,  and  have  a  dim  hope  of 
there  finding  help.  Protestant  missions  do  not  preach  such 
a  social  gospel.  But  the  great  misery  of  the  heathen  world 
prepares  the  way,  and  is  an  ally  of  missions.  It  calls  atten- 
tion to  a  power  that  has  appeared  upon  the  scene  with  a 
remedy.  This  remedy  is  of  a  nature  which  the  oppressed 
heathen  cannot  in  the  meantime  understand.  It  attacks  the 
evil  at  the  root ;  it  removes  not  all  the  world's  misery  but 
it  does  remove  its  bitterness.  The  sense  of  misery  can  thus 
make  a  breach  in  the  wall  of  indifference  surrounding  the 
heathen  heart,  through  which  the  announcement  of  the 
Saviour  may  find  its  way  within. 

Among  the  providential  pioneers  of  the  Gospel  must  be 
also  reckoned  the  longing  for  education,  which  is  frequently 
found  in  the  heathen  world  to-day.  Wherever  it  exists 
it  may  become  a  powerful  call  to  listen  to  the  missionary 
as  the  representative  of  imposing  knowledge.  The  desire 
for  education,  whose  power  they  feel  in  contact  with 
Western  nations,  is  frequently  shown  both  by  civilised  and 
uncivilised  peoples.  In  India,  China,  and,  above  all,  in 
Japan,  the  need  for  enlightenment  and  knowledge  has  con- 
quered the  traditional  dislike  to  what  is  foreign.  Sanguine 
people  have  built  thereon  great  hopes  for  the  victory  of  the 
Gospel,  hopes  for  the  most  part  unfulfilled.  A  people  may 
appropriate  the  blessings  of  Christianity  without  taking  over 
their  source,  as  in  Japan,  where  education  is  prized  simply 
as  a  means  of  power.  Missions  have  taken  their  share  of 
this  work,  but  only  in  isolated  cases  has  the  desire  for 
education  led  the  aspirant  to  the  root  of  truth.  The  course 
of  things  will  probably  be  the  same  in  China.  And  in  India, 
where  missions  have  always  taken  special  pains  to  spread  cul- 
ture and  enlightenment,  the  desired  fruits  have  not  appeared. 

The    conditions   are    more   favourable   among   uncivilised 
peoples.     In  their  former  seclusion  they  thought  themselves 


AGENCIES  THAT  CLEAR  THE  WAY         163 

singularly  wise,1  but  the  invasion  of  European  culture  has 
forced  on  them  the  humbling-  knowledge  of  their  ignorance.2 
The  desire  awoke  to  gain  some  of  the  valuable  knowledge 
of  the  white  man.  Many  of  the  animistic  notions  suffer 
badly  from  the  enlightening  work  of  education.  Where  the 
heathen  have  no  interest  in  the  Gospel  message  they  are 
eager  to  be  instructed  by  the  missionary  in  useful  knowledge. 
They  prize  him  for  his  wisdom ;  they  attach  importance  to 
his  words ;  they  are  willing  to  learn  of  him.  That  opens  a 
wide  door  to  mission  work.  Though  the  aged  feel  that  they 
are  too  old  to  learn,  the  young  men  come  willingly  for 
instruction.  That  is  a  glorious  opportunity  for  making  them 
acquainted  with  the  gifts  of  the  Gospel.  The  evangelising 
of  a  district  in  Sumatra  usually  begins  with  the  heathen 
building  a  school  and  asking  a  teacher  for  themselves  and 
their  children.  That  mostly  happens  not  from  any  desire 
for  salvation,  at  least  where  the  petitioners  are  as  yet 
ignorant  of  the  contents  of  the  new  message.  In  many 
cases  it  is  simply  a  desire  for  education  which  they  think 
valuable.  But  that  gives  the  opportunity  of  instructing  them 
and  leading  them  to  Christianity.  The  state  of  matters  is 
similar  on  Nias,  and  in  most  missions  of  Netherland  India. 
It  is  not  likely  that  all  the  young  people  in  the  school  will 
become  Christians,  but  the  school  has  opened  a  way  into 
a  province  hitherto  closed.3 

As  heathenism  is  ignorance  and  error,  Christianity  can  be 
recommended  as  a  bearer  of  wisdom  and  knowledge.  That 
is  very  often  done.  Jellinghaus  testifies  of  the  Kols : 
"  What  made  them  specially  susceptible  to  Christianity  was 
their  deep  feeling  and  honest  admission  that  they  were 
'dark'  and  like  stupid  wandered  sheep  in  this  bewildering 

1  Almost  every  uncivilised  people  maintain  that  they  are  the  real  men. 
Even  a  people  on  such  a  low  level  as  the  mountain  Damra  call  themselves 
Haukhoin,  i.e.  men,  true  men.     The  Niassers  do  the  same. 

2  When  the  Battaks  see  any  product  of  education  that  evokes  their 
wonder  they  exclaim  :   "  We  Battaks  are  still  buffaloes." 

3  The  negroes  on  the  Congo  received  the  Baptist  missionaries  with  great 
heartiness.  Most  of  them  desired  to  learn  to  read  and  write.  It  was  after- 
wards discovered  that  they  hoped  to  be  made  rich  and  distinguished  by  this 
magic  art.     Still  their  desire  for  knowledge  opened  the  land  to  the  Gospel. 


164      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

life.  We  have  every  reason  to  presume  that  tlieir  two  chief 
motives  were  a  longing  for  deliverance  from  the  fear  and 
worship  of  demons,  and  the  hope  of  obtaining  through  the 
missionary  help  and  counsel  in  their  precarious  possessions, 
and  education  and  instruction  for  themselves  and  their 
brethren."  It  is  reported  of  the  Waganda  that  the  desire 
for  education  brought  them  in  crowds  to  Christianity,  and 
that  they  were  dissatisfied  with  the  rival  Roman  Church, 
because  it  did  not  sufficiently  meet  their  need  of  education.1 
A  universal  zeal  for  learning  was  awakened  in  the  Abo  tribe 
in  the  Cameroons,  and  brought  many  to  the  missionary  in 
spite  of  the  vehement  opposition  of  heathenism. 

We  often  read  in  mission  reports  that  in  the  first  period 
of  mission  work  in  a  heathen  region,  children  and  youths 
develop  a  surprising  zeal  for  learning.  Thus  it  is  reported 
of  the  province  Zoba  (Sumatra)  that  soon  after  the  advent 
of  the  first  missionary  heathen  children  and  youths  could  not 
do  enough  in  learning  either  inside  or  outside  the  school. 
The  same  thing  is  told  us  of  the  recent  mission  among  the 
Ovambo.  In  Minahassa  during  Riedel's  time  it  was  often 
the  need  of  education  which  led  the  Alfurus  to  feel  that  the 
Gospel  was  desirable.  The  missionaries  rightly  saw  in  this 
longing  a  favourable  opportunity  for  the  Christianising  of 
Minahassa,  and  devoted  themselves  with  all  diligence  to 
school  work.  The  hunger  of  the  Alfurus  for  education 
sprang  from  their  eagerness  to  possess  and  study  the  New 
Testament  in  whole  or  in  part.2  Missionaries  in  Madagascar 
had  a  similar  experience.  This  eagerness  to  be  able  to  read 
God's  Word  had  its  origin,  not  in  any  desire  for  the  salvation 
of  their  soul,  but  in  the  hope  of  finding  in  the  Bible,  with 
which  they  connected  many  superstitious  ideas,  the  wisdom 
of  the   European.3      But   this   defective   or  even    perverse 

1  A  characteristic  example  of  how  a  heathen  is  brought  to  the  mission  by 
a  desire  for  learning,  and  gets  much  more  than  he  was  seeking,  is  given  by 
Trittelvitz,  "  Die  Bielefelder  Ostafrika-Miss.  a.m.z.,  1908,"  p.  131. 

2  A  regular  hunger  for  reading  prevails  in  Uganda  also. 

3  Cf.  Kruyt,  "  Inlander,"  p.  121  ff.— In  an  earthquake  Van  Hasselt  was 
asked  by  a  heathen  Papuan  woman  what  the  Bible  said  about  it ;  would  it  be 
better  or  worse.     The  heathen  of  Madagascar  came  to  the  missionary  Nilson 


AGENCIES  THAT  CLEAR  THE  WAY         165 

conception  is  capable  of  paving  the  way  for  the  acceptance 
of  Christianity.  God  has  planted  the  love  of  knowledge  in 
the  hearts  of  the  ignorant  that  in  seeking  instruction  they 
may  find  something  better. 

A  kindred  fact  in  the  divine  leading,  which  cannot  fail  ^ 
to  open  up  the  way  for  the  Gospel  among  the  indifferent 
heathen,  is  the  superiority  of  the  white  race  that  brings 
them  the  Gospel.  That  race  takes  a  dominant  position 
everywhere  in  the  heathen  world  ;  the  dull  eye  of  the  heathen 
sees  there  the  earthly  blessings  that  accompany  Christianity, 
and  learns  thereby  to  value  the  new  religion.  The  missionary 
activity  of  the  early  Church  was  without  this  advantage. 
The  messengers  of  the  Gospel  were  then  insignificant ;  they 
were  regarded  as  uneducated ;  and  they  sprang  from  a 
milieu  on  which  the  proud  Greek  and  Roman  looked  with 
contempt.  Other  means  were  needed  to  draw  the  attention 
of  the  heathen  world  to  the  new  message  which  had  no 
worldly  circumstance  to  commend  it.  Hence  God  conferred 
upon  His  messengers  the  power  of  working  signs  and  wonders 
which  evoked  the  astonishment  and  reflection  of  the  heathen, 
and  turned  their  eyes  to  a  preaching  so  uniquely  authorised. 
In  proportion  as  Christianity  was  known  and  became  a  power 
which  the  heathen  could  no  longer  pass  by  with  contempt, 
these  divine  signs  ceased.  Such  striking  signs  of  the  divine 
power  are  sometimes,  though  not  very  frequently,  seen  in 
foreign  missions  still.     We  shall  speak  of  them  later.     The 

Luiid,  and  asked  him  to  look  into  his  Bible  and  see  whether  a  marauding 
expedition  they  had  planned  would  come  off  well  (Kruyt,  "Inlander," 
p.  114).  The  heathen  of  Thibet  frecpuently  had  Bibles  in  their  houses  which 
they  did  not  read,  but  worshipped  as  idols,  and  burned  incense  before  them 
(Kruyt,  p.  99).  The  Washamba  regarded  the  Bible  as  a  magic  book  in 
which  the  missionaries  were  supposed  to  find  out  who  had  bewitched  their 
sick,  or  whither  their  goats  had  run  ("  Doring  Morgendammerung,"  p.  164). 
Sekeletu,  chief  of  Barotsi,  favoured  the  settlement  of  missionaries  in  his 
country,  but  was  himself  unwilling  to  learn  to  read  lest  the  magic  of  the 
book  should  compel  him  to  give  up  polygamy.  Robbed  Niassers  entreated 
missionary  Fries  to  inquire  in  the  book  where  the  thief  should  be  found,  and 
when  he  refused  they  entreated,  Be  good  enough,  at  least,  to  curse  the  thief 
from  the  book  (Fries,  "Rundbrief,"  No.  26,  p.  39). 


166      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

messengers  of  the  Gospel  are  not  generally  equipped  with 
\  the  gift  of  working  wonders,  because  their  position  in  the 
heathen  world  is  already  outstanding.  Representatives  of  a 
far  superior  culture,  they  excite  universal  attention.  Even  in 
the  most  primitive  pioneer  mission,  the  missionary,  whether 
he  will  or  not,  appears  to  the  heathen  as  the  representative 
of  a  culture  and  education  at  which  they  gaze  with  astonish- 
ment, as  though  it  had  come  from  another  world.  By  his 
tools  and  instruments,  by  his  knowledge  and  skill,  he 
impresses  them  as  a  higher  being.  The  interest  of  all  centres 
on  the  wonderful  man  who  is  the  talk  of  the  country-side  for 
miles  around.  The  feuds  and  controversies  of  the  tribes  are 
brought  before  him  to  be  settled  by  his  wisdom.  He  is 
expected  to  cure  every  kind  of  disease  and  infirmity,  to  have 
a  word  of  counsel  for  all,  and  to  bring  about  a  general 
improvement  in  the  land.1  This  high  esteem  gives  import- 
ance to  his  words.  Wonderful  as  his  message  is  to  their 
ears,  they  cannot  help  listening  to  it  because  of  the  mes- 
senger. The  superiority  of  the  European  thus  becomes  a 
magic  wand  which  opens  the  door  of  the  heathen  land  before 
the  Gospel.  Worldly  motives  are  often  the  crowbar  which 
bores  the  blast-holes  into  which  the  powder  of  the  Gospel  can 
be  laid,  so  as  to  burst  the  rock  of  heathenism  from  within. 

The  cordial  reception  of  the  missionary  by  uncivilised  men 
is  probably  inspired  by  the  hope  of  obtaining  something  of  his 
superior  wisdom.  They  hope  either  to  profit  from  his  art 
and  skill,  or,  under  his  guidance,  to  become  themselves  wise 
and  clever  as  Europeans.  They  see  that  Christian  nations 
are  far  in  advance  of  heathen  nations ;  if  Christianity  has 
made  them  so,  it  is  worth  while  to  draw  close  to  so  powerful 
a  religion.  They  think  of  the  Christian  religion  as  a  powerful 
magic.  That  conclusion  is  partially  true,  and  those  who 
draw  it,  though  still  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God,  are  not  so 
far  as  the  stupid  heathen,  who  do  not  even  pretend  to  think 
about  the  fruits  of  the  different  religions. 

In  not  a  few  mission  fields  this  superiority  of  Christian  races 
is  paralysed  by  the  dissolute  conduct  of  many  Europeans. 

1  The  Battaks  often  say  to  us  :   "  There  is  nothing  you  whites  cannot  do." 


AGENCIES  THAT  CLEAR  THE  WAY         167 

The  heathen,  who  observe  them,  draw  the  inference  that 
wisdom  and  dominion  are  not  necessarily  dependent  on  the 
observance  of  Christian  precepts.  What  had  meant  to  be  a 
furtherance  thus,  through  man's  guilt,  becomes  a  hindrance. 

Another  and  more  constant  factor  in  opening  up  the  way 
for  the  Gospel  is  the  influence  of  the  moral  personality  of  the 
preacher.     They  see  the  Christian  religion  embodied  in  the   | 
evangelist,  and  divine  some  of  its  excellences  long  before  the 
Word  preached  has  made  any  impression  on  them.    Two  things 
in  the  messenger  of  the  Gospel  strike  them  as  great  and  attrac- 
tive— his  love  and  his  truthfulness.     The  missionary's  love 
and   compassion  is  a  completely  new  thing  to  the  animistic 
heathen.      Heathenism  is  sheer    unveiled   selfishness.      His 
parents  apart,  no  Animist  has  ever  had  to  do  with  a  man 
who   showed  him   an    unselfish    love.      Everywhere   among 
uncivilised  peoples,  mission  workers  find  that  the  heartfelt 
compassionate  love  of  the  messenger  is  the  first  thing  that 
makes  an  impression  on  the  hard  heathen  heart.     They  meet 
enlightenment  with  passive  resistance  and  with  the  teaching 
of  their  tradition  ;    but  all  their  weapons  miss  fire  against 
merciful   love.      Not   only   those   who   afterwards    become 
Christians,  but  hardened  heathen  can  be  moved  by  the  love 
of  the  messenger.     The  heathen  as  well  as  the  Christians  in 
Battak  land  call  the  missionary  their  father,  and  that  is  no 
mere  phrase.     They  confess,  "  My  father  was  not,  my  mother  \ 
was  not,  what  thou  hast  been  to  me."  l     The  love  which  the  i 
messenger  bestows  on  them  and  their  children  awakens  in 
them    feelings   of    whose    existence    they   themselves   were 
formerly  unaware.     It  creates  in  them  a  new  emotional  life. 
Now  and  then  we  hear  them  extolling  the  white  man  who 
does  not  shrink  from  handling  their  disgusting  sores,  from 
sitting  with  them  in  their  dirty  huts,  from  taking  in  their 

1  After  two  years'  labour  among  the  savages  on  the  Island  Samosir,  I  was 
called  elsewhere  and  had  to  leave.  The  love  and  gratitude  for  love  exhibited 
at  my  departure  was  beyond  anything  I  could  have  thought  possible. 
Heathen  men  whom  I  had  never  trusted  wept  like  children  (which  they  are 
not  in  the  habit  of  doing),  and  called  me  their  father,  their  mother,  their 
grandfather,  who  had  loved  them  more  than  their  own  parents. 


168      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

sick,  and  the  like.  The  missionary's  treatment  of  the  sick 
has  opened  many  a  closed  door,  as  is  attested  by  the  whole 
literature  of  missions.  The  nearest  way  to  the  heathen's 
heart,  and  to  make  him  willing  to  listen  to  the  good  message, 
is  unmistakable  charity  on  the  part  of  the  messenger.  So 
soon  as  he  is  convinced  of  their  love  and  kindness  will  he 
incline  his  ear  to  their  words.1  Fries  declares :  "  The 
missionary  in  placing  all  his  gifts  at  the  service  of  a  seeking 
and  serving  love  will  feel  that  he  is  following  Jesus.  The 
sermon  in  action  is  understood  long  before  the  sermon  in 
word ;  it  acts  immediately,  a  call  from  heart  to  heart  acts 
even  on  those  naively  selfish  natures." 

The  missionaries  in  Kaiser-William's  Land,  in  twenty 
years'  patient  work  among  the  Papuans,  have  experienced 
the  great  influence  of  the  disinterested  love  of  the  messenger 
of  the  Gospel  upon  the  savage  heathen  heart.  An  armed 
heathen  once  came  to  Kunze  the  missionary,  and  the  latter 
asked  him,  "  Do  you  want  to  kill  me  ?  "  The  man  answered 
that  formerly  he  would  have  killed  him  if  in  the  mood. 
"  But  I  cannot  do  it  now.  Thou  hast  buried  there  the 
missionaries  Klaus  and  Pillkuhn  and  thy  wife  ;  when  I  think 
of  it  my  bowels  become  weak."  He  had  felt  something  of 
the  missionary's  love,  ready  even  to  face  death.  In  thinking 
of  dead  missionaries  and  missionaries'  wives,  a  Papuan 
would  say,  "He  (or  she)  had  such  a  soft  eye  when  he 
looked  at  me  that  my  bowels  were  pained."  Krumm,  the 
missionary  on  Nias,  when  his  wife  died,  had  the  same 
experience.  Siwahumola,  the  head-hunter,  who  was  once 
so  much  feared,  said  to  him,  weeping,  "When  I  heard  that 
the  mother  had  gone  away  I  felt  as  if  I  had  been  strangled. 
She  loved  us."  And  then  he  went  on  to  recount  all  manner 
of  proofs  of  the  love  and  kindness  the  young  wife  had  shown 
him.      In   like    manner,    the   death    of  the   young   beloved 

1  "This  invaluable  personal  credit,  which  is  the  primary  condition  of  a 
useful  inlluence  among  uncivilised  heathen  peoples  who  are  ignorant  of  life, 
faith  in  the  purity  of  his  aims,  in  his  harmlessness,  disinterestedness,  and  good 
intentions,  must  be  acquired  by  every  missionary  who  opens  up  a  new  field 
of  benighted  heathenism."  That  is  how  Schneider  formulates  this  important 
factor  of  personal  mission  work. 


AGENCIES  THAT  CLEAR  THE  WAY         169 

missionary  Stahlhut  in  Ovamboland  made  a  deep  impression 
on  the  heathen.  Many  visited  his  widow  and  wept  with 
her.  The  dying  of  Coillard's  wife  was  fraught  with  blessing 
to  the  heathen.  Miiiler  testifies  of  the  Anglo  tribe  among 
the  Ewe  that  the  devotion  with  which  the  missionaries 
nursed  those  wounded  in  battle  won  the  heart  of  the  Ewe 
and  brought  about  a  sudden  change  in  their  relation  to 
the  missionaries.  Hoch  says  of  the  Indians,  that  the 
provident  care  of  the  missionaries,  their  philanthropic 
activity,  and  their  unselfish  aid  have  a  mighty  influence 
on  those  who  are  yet  far  off  from  Christianity.  Kruyt  says  : 
"  The  missionary  must  begin  by  gaining  the  confidence  of 
the  people  ;  his  personality  must  speak  more  than  his  words ; 
for  he  must  never  forget  that  at  first  his  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  is  listened  to  entirely  for  his  sake,  and  that  all 
preaching  is  useless  unless  the  hearers  have  confidence  in 
the  preacher.  This  confidence  is  the  way  by  which  God's 
spirit  comes  into  their  hearts  and  does  its  work."  And 
confidence  is  gained  by  love.1 

Next,  the  truthfulness  of  the  evangelic  messenger  com- 
mends him  to  the  heathen.  This  is  a  new  virtue  to  most 
heathen  peoples,  if  not  in  idea  yet  in  reality.  Before  the 
arrival  of  the  missionary  our  Battaks  never  saw  a  man  whose 
word  they  could  believe,  and  it  was  the  same  with  the 
Niassers,  Alfurus,  Papuans,  and  many  others.  No  wonder 
they  distrusted  the  missionary  at  first,  and  suspected  that 
he  had  all  kinds  of  secret  designs.  But  now  he  has  lived 
for  some  time  among  them,  keenly  watched  by  hundreds  of 
suspicious  eyes.  Gradually  they  see  that  this  man  never 
speaks  an  untruth,  never  pursues  secret  plans  with  craft  and 
deception,  but  speaks  exactly  as  he  thinks.  The  more  this 
observation  is  condensed  into  experience  the  more  they  are 

1  Charity  makes  its  impression  even  on  Mohammedans,  the  fanatical 
enemies  of  Christians.  The  Hospital  of  the  Rhine  Mission  in  Pea  Radja 
(Sumatra)  forces  many  Mohammedans  to  admit  that  such  love  is  found  only 
among  the  Christians.  Of  course  the  explanation  is  at  once  given  by  their 
leaders  :  "  Yes,  the  Christians  nurse  our  sick  and  do  them  good,  but  that  is 
just  what  Allah  has  determined,  that  they  should  perform  this  lowly  service 
to  believers." 


170      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

inclined  to  believe  him,  in  virtue  of  an  empirical  conclusion  ; 
in  the  end,  however,  they  trust  him  with  all  their  heart. 
His  disinterestedness,  his  love  and  truth,  have  opened  the 
way  to  their  closed  hearts. 

That  means  a  great  deal,  for  it  leads  them  to  believe  his 
message ;  not  to  the  extent,  certainly,  of  submitting  to  it  or 
applying  it  to  themselves,  but  they  believe  that  the  mysterious 
words  of  the  man  who  has  been  proved  truthful  must  be 
true.  They  know  that  the  messenger  has  no  desire  to  dupe 
his  hearers,  and  no  selfish  designs.  The  words  must  be 
good,  because  the  preacher  has  already  proved  himself  a 
reliable  man.  Compassionate  love  and  unswerving  truth- 
fulness will  carry  the  missionary  further  than  proofs  and 
disputations.  "  Honesty  and  truth  are  weapons  which  the 
heathen  do  not  know,  for  all  wise  heathen  are  cunning 
diplomatists.  Hence  these  weapons  swayed  by  love  inflict 
the  most  abiding  wounds." 

The  Rhine  Mission  laboured  for  two  decades  in  New 
Guinea  without  any  visible  results  ;  no  one  had  any  desire 
to  become  a  Christian.  Yet  the  missionaries  remained  of 
good  courage,  and  would  not  hear  of  giving  up  the  apparently 
unfruitful  field,  for,  as  was  shown  on  many  occasions,  they 
had  succeeded  in  gaining  the  confidence  of  the  Papuans. 
There  is  now  a  real  movement  towards  Christianity  on  that 
island.  Their  trust  in  the  missionaries  made  the  savage 
Iraono  Huna,  in  Nias,  celebrated  head-hunters  and  men- 
stealers,  come  to  the  missionary  Krumm,  along  with  their 
dreaded  chief  Siwahumola,  and  embrace  Christianity  in  a 
body.  Doctor  Winkler,  a  medical  missionary,  expresses 
himself  on  this  matter  as  follows  :  "  Ouly  after  confidence  is 
established  in  the  missionary,  does  preaching,  the  Word  of 
God,  law  and  Gospel,  gradually  find  willing  ears,  reflection 
and  comprehension.  Confidence  in  the  missionary,  proved 
reliable  in  earthly  affairs,  passes  on  to  the  new  teaching  he 
brings.  If  the  one  is  true  and  reliable  the  other  is  true  and 
reliable  also.  Confidence  in  the  missionary  in  earthly  affairs 
passes  into  trust  in  spiritual  things.  Confidence  in  the 
person    of  the    missionary  leads   to  confidence  in  the  God 


AGENCIES  THAT  CLEAR  THE  WAY         171 

of  the  missionary,  who  so  often  stands  visibly  by  him,  and 
who,  as  he  declares,  loves  them  also,  and  is  able  and  willing 
to  help  them  in  marvellous  ways  as  has  often  been  already 
seen.  That  ascain  leads  to  trust  in  the  Saviour  of  whom  the 
missionary  never  wearies  of  speaking  and  testifying."  The 
confidence  which  Livingstone  was  able  to  plant  among  the ! 
savages  of  Africa  opened  that  dark  portion  of  the  earth  \ 
to  mission  work.  How  often  have  missionaries  been  able 
to  mediate  between  colonial  governments  and  an  excited 
population  because  they  had  its  confidence ;  or  even  between 
warring  tribes,  both  of  whom  were  convinced  of  the  good 
will  and  incorruptibility  of  the  messenger  of  peace. 

A  preparatory  influence  of  a  personal  kind  on  the  part 
of  the  bearer  of  the  Word  must  therefore,  as  a  rule,  precede 
the  reception  of  the  Divine  Message.  The  printed  or  written 
Word  may  partly  replace  the  personal  among  educated 
heathen,  but  among  lower  peoples  the  message  in  and  by 
itself  and  its  contents  will  only  in  rare  cases  be  effective. 
A  warm,  loving,  personal  influence  is  needed  to  melt  the 
wall  of  ice  that  is  around  the  heathen  heart.  The  moral 
feeling  that  hitherto  has  slumbered  there  and  defiantly  closed 
itself  against  the  moral  demand  of  the  Gospel  responds  to 
the  person  who  appeals  to  it.  The  remnant  of  moral  feeling 
still  in  the  heathen  draws  him  to  the  moral  person  as  the 
magnet  awakens  the  kindred  magnetic  power  in  the  iron. 
The  consequence  is  an  appreciation  of  this  person,  nay,  more, 
confidence,  and  finally  responsive  love.  That  secures  a  basis 
for  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel. 

Most  of  the  peoples  who  have  had  a  missionary  among 
them  are  now  governed  by  a  European  colonial  government. 
Though  this  government  cannot  regard  it  as  its  work  to 
Christianise  the  tribes  over  which  it  rules,  nay  even  though 
it  be  unfavourable  to  mission  work,  it  cannot  fail,  as  the 
representative  of  humanity  and  enlightenment,  to  help  un- 
consciously to  prepare  the  way  for  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel.  It  does  so  in  two  ways.  A  civilised  colonial  power 
contributes  to  the  shaking  of  heathenism,  not  by  forbidding 


172      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

the  heathen  to  practise  their  religion  nor  by  suggesting  to 
them  to  become  Christians.  The  Holland  company  in 
Netherland  India  did  that,  and  drove  thousands  into  the 
arms  of  the  Christian  Church,  though  not  to  their  salvation. 
Nowhere  is  anything  like  that  done  now.  But  a  colonial 
power  may  find  it  necessary  to  prohibit  many  heathen  customs 
which  are  closely  connected  with  the  religious  tradition, 
such  as  cannibalism,  head-hunting,  human  sacrifices  at 
festivals  for  the  dead,  trial  of  witches,  judgments  of  God, 
killing  of  men  in  order  to  obtain  charms  from  their  corpses, 
burning  of  widows,  and  many  others.  These  are  all  usages 
which  support  the  animistic  religion,  and  their  prohibition  by 
authority  means  the  breaking  up  of  the  animistic  tradition 
and  of  the  system.  The  whole  tradition  loses  its  power. 
The  gods  (i.e.  ancestors)  no  longer  served  in  the  way  they 
desire,  must  turn  their  backs  on  their  descendants  who  deem 
it  better  now  to  put  themselves  under  gods  whom  they  can 
worship  in  an  acceptable  way.  These  gods  are  either  the 
Mohammedan  Allah  Kaala  or  the  God  of  the  Christians.  In 
this  way  the  Holland  executive  power  in  Netherland  India 
has  sometimes  played  into  the  hands  of  Christianity.1 

1  Take  one  example  of  this  kind  of  opening  the  way.  One  of  the  dis- 
tricts of  Minahassa  which  long  resisted  Christianity  was  Tonsea.  The  heathen 
State,  that  is,  the  religious  tradition,  was  there  preserved  as  far  as  jiossible 
by  the  priests,  though  the  structure  was  rotten.  Now  the  great  man  of 
Minahassa,  Resident  Jansen,  came  one  day.into  the  veryjheart  of  Miuahassian 
heathenism  when  they  were  celebrating  a  sacrificial  festival  of  ten  days.  The 
Resident  saw  how  the  well-being  of  the  people  was  retarded  by  such  festivals, 
how  the  labour  of  the  past  was  used  up  in  a  few  days,  and  the  people  reduced 
to  want  during  a  great  part  of  the  year.  The  feast  also  kept  the  people 
from  their  work  for  days.  The  result  of  this  discovery  was  that  the  Resident 
ordained  that  no  festival  should  last  longer  than  three  days.  Resident 
Jansen  issued  this  decree  in  the  interests  of  the  people  ;  assuredly  he  was 
not  fully  conscious  of  the  fact  that  his  command  was  giving  a  serious  blow 
to  the  heathen  state  (i.e.  the  religion),  for  Kruyt regards  state  and  religion  as 
closely  connected.  It  was  supposed  that  where  the  gods  could  no  longer  be 
served  in  accordance  with  the  usage  the  whole  state  (i.e.  religion)  must  be 
changed,  and  the  people  of  Tonsea  became  Christians.  The  influence  of  the 
government  may  be  overrated  here.  Other  motives  may  have  been  at  work,  and 
the  limitation  of  the  sacrificial  festival  may  only  have  furnished  the  occasion 
for  carrying  out  a  long  prepared  revolution.  But  the  co-operation,  the  purely 
outward  preparation  of  the  way  by  the  civil  power,  is  clear  from  this  and 


AGENCIES  THAT  CLEAR  THE  WAY         173 

A  civilised  government  also  abolishes  slavery,  which  is  -r 
closely  connected  with  the  religious  state  tradition  of 
heathenism.  Freed  slaves  will  detach  themselves  from  the 
national  religion  more  readily  if  they  owe  their  freedom  to 
European  help.  A  curb  is  also  put  on  the  pernicious  influence 
of  magicians  and  fetich  men.  They  are  no  longer  uncontrolled 
in  their  evil  work,  though  the  craft  is  not  abolished.  Cruel 
trials  by  ordeal  are  no  longer  possible.  All  that  deals  a  severe 
blow  to  the  heathen  tradition,  which  was  a  completed  whole. 

But  the  second  way  is  more  important.  The  Colonial 
Government  puts  a  stop  to  the  endless  bloody  feuds  of 
tribes  ;  it  creates  freedom,  and  the  conditions  for  undisturbed 
evangelising  work.  We  are  right  in  regarding  the  universal 
peace  produced  by  Rome's  universal  sway,  as  a  preparatory 
act  of  God  opening  up  the  way  for  His  Apostles,  and  render- 
ing possible  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  many  lands. 
Mission  work  can  have  little  success  among  uncivilised 
heathen  peoples  who  are  left  politically  to  themselves. 
The  acceptance  of  Christianity  by  the  people  is  rendered 
very  difficult,  and  it  is  often  expressly  prohibited,  under  the 
sway  of  despots,  great  or  small,  as  in  Ashantee,  Uganda  and 
Netherland  India.  Constant  tribe  feuds  and  bloodshed  not 
only  make  the  heart  unwilling  to  receive  the  Gospel,  but 
make  regular  preaching  impossible ;  they  also  endanger  the 
existence  of  the  little  communities  that  have  been  won.1 
But  where  peace  is  secured,  and  the  capricious  sway  of  little 
tyrants  broken  by  a  firm  colonial  government,  every  subject 
is   placed  in  a  position  of  freedom  towards  the  evangelic 

similar  facts  which  Kruyt  reports.  Here  is  another  example  from  the  Rhine 
Mission.  The  Holland  government  found  itself  recently  compelled  to  under- 
take a  punitive  expedition  to  the  island  Mentawey,  west  from  Sumatra, 
which  ended  without  bloodshed  by  the  mediation  of  the  missionary  Lett.  On 
this  occasion  the  cruel  hanging  of  witches  and  the  ruinous  sacrificial  festivals 
were  forbidden.  The  result  of  this  prohibition,  which  cuts  so  deeply  into 
heathen  custom,  was  that  the  population,  formerly  extremely  cold,  began 
eagerly  and  in  great  numbers  to  attend  the  Christian  worship,  and  to  send 
their  children  to  the  mission  school. 

1  When  war  prevails  in  the  independent  regions  of  Sumatra,  in  Uluan, 
and  Samosir,  no  one  can  venture  to  go  to  church  or  school,  for  even  women 
and  children  would  be  mercilessly  attacked  and  killed. 


174      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

message.  The  chief  may  perhaps  play  tricks  on  him  who 
listens  to  the  Word,  but  he  has  no  longer  power  to  forbid  his 
subjects  to  do  so.  The  Rhine  missionaries  who  work  under 
the  peaceful  sway  of  the  government  of  Holland  gratefully 
acknowledge  the  blessings  which  they  owe  to  it.  In 
Sumatra,  as  well  as  in  the  whole  of  Netherland  India,  not 
only  the  missionaries,  but  the  oppressed  population  desire  to 
come  under  the  Colonial  Government.  Here  and  there  the 
hope  that  the  Government  will  follow  the  missionaries,  leads 
the  heathen  in  their  longing  for  peace  to  accept  Christianity ; 
or  they  are  heard  saying,  that  as  soon  as  the  Holland  Govern- 
ment takes  us  over  we  shall  become  Christians,  but  there 
must  be  peace  first.  Once  the  law  of  might  is  broken  every- 
body breathes  freely,  and  no  one  is  disinclined  to  accept  the 
"  religion  of  peace."  Thus  Kramer,  the  missionary,  on  Nias 
writes:  "The  notorious  robbers  just  mentioned  (Baluhalu, 
Sitambaho,  Bawaduha),  who  formerly  extended  their  preda- 
tory excursions  in  all  directions,  have,  through  the  mediation 
of  the  missionaries  and  the  Christian  chiefs  of  Lolowua  and 
Sogae  Adu,  submitted  to  the  Holland  Government.  These 
people  now  desire  to  have  missionaries  sent  to  them.1 
Sometimes  the  tormented  people  expect  that  the  missionary 
will  follow  the  government,  sometimes  conversely,  that  the 
peace-bringing  government  will  accompany  the  mission.2 

We  have  no  desire  to  overestimate  the  significance  for 
missions  of  a  humane  European  government.  People  in  the 
end  are  brought  into  the  Christian  Church  by  inward 
motives.  There  is  a  great  distance  between  the  first  readi- 
ness to  hear  the  word  and  the  inward  acceptance  of  it  with 
its  far-reaching  consequences.  But  it  should  be  gladly 
admitted  that  a  wise  and  benevolent  Colonial  Government 
is  one  of  the  powers  which  God  has  chosen  for  bringing  the 
message  of  salvation  to  uncivilised  peoples.  On  the  other 
hand,   unfortunately,  we  know  well  that  European  rule  is 

1  Quoted  in  Kruyt,  "  De  Inlandsche  statet,"  p.  93. 

2  In  like  manner  the  European  Government  in  Ashantee,  Uganda,  South 
and  East  Africa,  has  created  conditions  in  which  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel 
may  peacefully,  and  therefore  fruitfully,  be  carried  on. 


AGENCIES  THAT  CLEAR  THE  WAY         175 

accompanied  by  tributary  currents  that  may  hinder  the 
spread  of  Christianity.  On  the  whole,  however,  the  salutary 
influences  predominate.  All  the  means  here  sketched  of 
opening  up  the  way  for  Christianity  are  instruments  which 
God  puts  into  man's  hand  to  help  in  preparing  the  way  for 
the  coming  of  His  kingdom.  They  are  auxiliary  scaffolding, 
superfluous  when  the  building  is  completed.  Necessary, 
they  are  yet  not  among  the  building  forces. 

We  have  still  to  speak  of  another  and  a  deeper  kind  of 
preparation.  In  most  cases  traceable  to  natural  causes,  it  is 
yet  an  immediate  revelation  of  God's  own  action  with  its 
purpose  of  salvation,  which  enters  the  life  of  the  heathen 
and  draws  the  attention  of  the  blinded  people  to  that  which 
makes  for  their  peace.  The  finger  of  God  is  more  visibly 
and  more  frequently  seen  in  the  mission  fields  of  heathenism, 
warning  the  ignorant  that  now  is  the  day  of  salvation,  than 
it  is  in  Christendom.  We  have  already  seen  that  foreign 
missions  to-day  are  not  necessarily  accompanied  by  manifest 
wonders,  as  in  the  days  of  the  apostles,  because  there  are 
other  means  of  gaining  the  attention  of  the  heathen.  But  the\ 
marks  of  God's  mighty  presence  are  plainly  perceptible  in  ^ 
mission  work  to-day.  God  sometimes  condescends  to  show 
the  helplessness  of  their  gods,  and  His  own  power  to  the 
heathen  who  know  Him  not.  He  sometimes  condescends1 
to  punish  blasphemers,  to  accompany  with  His  blessing 
remedies  given  by  His  messengers  in  great  weakness,  to 
answer  the  stammering  prayers  of  those  who  would  like  to 
know  whether  His  power  is  with  them,  and  in  marvellous 
ways  to  preserve  his  servants.  The  Battak  mission  has 
witnessed  many  clear  interpositions  of  God,  especially  in 
its  first  days.  The  missionaries  were  several  times  preserved 
from  attempts  on  their  lives.  They  have  taken  poison  with- 
out any  injury,  and  restraint  was  put  upon  their  enemies, 
such  as  to  reveal  to  Christian  and  heathen  alike  the  finger  of 
God.  The  Nias  mission  has  had  the  same  experience, 
especially  in  the  western  region,  occupied  by  Lett  and 
Reitze,    and    in    the    district    Lahusa    opened    up    by   the 


176      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

missionary  Krumm.  But  for  such  clear  proofs  to  the 
heathen  of  the  Divine  power,  these  two  provinces  could 
hardly  have  been  held,  though  in  both  a  rich  harvest  has 
been  gathered  in  under  marvellous  conditions.  The  reader 
of  missionary  news  will  frequently  come  upon  instances  of 
such  things,  reminding  him  of  the  experiences  of  Old  and 
New  Testament  messengers  of  God.  Such  experiences 
strengthen  the  faith  of  missionaries  and  their  helpers  in  their 
many  trials,  striving  with  the  dark  powers  of  heathenism,  un- 
supported by  Christian  fellowship.  The  critic  will  find  it  easy 
to  assail  these  acts  of  God,  but  they  are  precious  to  those  who 
experience  them,  mission  workers,  heathen,  Christians  and 
heathen,  and  they  produce  blessed  and  permanent  results. 

We  shall  have  to  return  to  these  proofs  of  God's  power 
later  when  examining  the  powers  and  gifts  that  issue  from 
the  Gospel.  They  occupy  us  here  only  so  far  as  they  belong 
to  the  preparatory  means,  for  in  most  cases  they  appear  only 
where  the  Gospel  has  already  found  an  entrance,  and  add  to 
the  knowledge  of  those  who  are  susceptible.  But  we  must 
enter  here  into  a  fuller  explanation  of  one  phenomenon  in 
which  the  act  of  God  and  the  inner  life  of  man  are  closely 
interlaced.  God  often  influences  the  inner  life  of  the  heathen 
by  dreams  and  visions  in  such  a  manner  that  all  psychological 
explanations  leave  something  inexplicable.  The  function  of 
these  is,  to  point  to  the  Gospel,  as  yet  little  heeded.  In  the 
Battak  Mission  the  attention  of  the  heathen  was  frequently 
drawn  to  Christianity  by  dreams.  Many  heathen  Christians 
speak  of  dreams  which  had  a  decisive  influence  on  their 
lives.  These  are  still  more  frequent  on  Nias.  An  old 
priestess  there  dreamed  that  the  dead  ancestors  of  her 
kindred  appeared  to  her  and  said  that  the  new  religion 
was  good,  and  if  they  would  all  follow  it  they  would  be 
reunited  with  their  ancestors.  The  dream  made  a  profound 
impression  on  all  the  relatives  to  whom  the  old  woman  told 
it,  especially  the  prospect  of  being  united  with  the  ancestors. 
The  Savage  Iraono  Iluna  on  Nias  were  led  by  a  dream  to 
accept  Christianity.  The  wife  of  Solago,  who  afterwards 
became  a  leading  supporter  of  Christianity,  dreamed  that  she 


AGENCIES  THAT  CLEAR  THE  WAY         177 

saw,  at  a  great  distance,  a  large  man  with  his  feet  on 
the  earth  and  his  hand  reaching  to  heaven.  He  became 
smaller  and  smaller  till,  as  a  little  man,  with  a  white  garment, 
he  sat  down  on  a  stone  and  said :  "  I  come  from  heaven 
and  have  to  ask  you  people  of  Lolowau  if  you  go  to  church 
at  Lahusa  ?  Are  you  willing  to  follow  the  teaching  of  God  ? " 
Then  they  prayed  together,  and  he  once  more  exhorted  her 
to  go  to  the  missionary  that  he  might  show  her  the  way  of 
life.  Next  day  the  whole  village  came  to  be  taught,  and  the 
idols  were  thrown  away.  This  dream  had  a  decisive  effect 
upon  the  whole  district.  Others  dreamed  of  a  good  spring 
which  rose  up  near  the  mission  house  or  came  from  the  city 
of  God.  Heathen  of  Lahomi  were  commissioned  by  a  dream 
to  follow  the  custom  of  the  missionary,  and  thereby  return  to 
the  "  old  custom,"  i.e.,  the  original,  true  religion. 

Buttner,  in  his  essay  "Traume  und  Gesichte  in  der  Mission," 
has  brought  together  a  great  mass  of  material  on  the  subject. 
He  distinguishes  between  edifying  dreams  and  those  for 
rousing  the  indolent,  and,  lastly,  visions  of  the  dying.  He 
tells  of  many  dreams  which  pointed  the  heathen  to 
Christianity  as  something  salutary.  Before  the  advent  of 
the  missionaries  the  Konde  were  forewarned  by  a  visible 
phenomenon  in  the  heavens  that  men  would  come  with  a 
message  which  they  were  to  receive.  The  missionary  Colditz 
got  a  friendly  reception  on  the  Mosquito  Coast  because  an 
Indian  had  once  seen  in  a  dream  a  white  man  who  summoned 
him  to  send  for  missionaries.  Missionaries,  before  their 
advent,  were  also  dreamed  of  among  the  Kols.  A  zealous 
idolater  among  the  bush  negroes  of  Suriname  was  warned  in 
a  dream  and  commanded  to  testify  against  idolatry,  and  to 
go  in  quest  of  missionaries.  He  then  became  a  devoted 
evangelist.  Individuals  are  forced  by  dreams  to  become 
candidates  for  baptism.  Rottrot  says  that  individuals 
among  the  Kols  received  divine  announcements  in  the 
form  of  visions  and  dreams  showing  them  the  meaning  of 
their  efforts,  and  determining  their  wills  to  this  or  that  step. 

Miescher  also  brings  together  many  examples  of  significant  • 
dreams,  from  the  Kols,  from  the  Gold  Coast,  from  a  Kaffir 

M 


178      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

youth,  and  from  the  Hottentot  leader  of  African  huntsmen. 
He  also  speaks  of  "  forebodings  that  sound  like  predictions." 
Hoch  declares  that,  among  the  Indians,  dreams  and  visions 
often  play  the  part  of  messengers  of  God  to  draw  the  atten- 
tion of  the  heathen  to  the  gospel  which,  as  yet,  they  do  not 
know,  or  to  confirm  the  word  which  they  have  heard.1 

Kruyt  has  devoted  a  chapter  of  his  book,  "  De  Inlander  en 
de  Zending,"  to  dreams,  in  which  he  shows  that  dreams  are 
realities  to  the  animistic  heathen.  They  believe  that  in  sleep 
the  soul  leaves  the  body  and  really  experiences  what  is 
dreamed.  In  particular,  the  soul  keeps  up  intercourse  in 
dreams  with  dead  relations,  and  receives  orders  from  them. 
Seeing  that  contact  with  his  ancestors  means  much  to  the 
Animist,  he  attaches  great  value  to  such  dreams.  Nothing 
more  effectively  prevents  uncivilised  man  from  accepting 
Christianity  than  the  fear  of  wounding  his  ancestors  by  a 
change  of  religion.  Now,  if  one  of  those  dreaded  ancestors 
should,  in  a  dream,  counsel  him  to  follow  the  new  religion, 
that  would  be  a  powerful  incitement.  It  would  shake  to 
the  foundation  his  belief  in  his  former  religion.  Kruyt 
distinguishes  three  kinds  of  dreams,  those  which  contain 
a  prediction,  those  which  lead  to  conversion,  and  those 
which  relate  to  the  condition  after  death.  The  Church  at 
Lamongan  came  into  existence  through  a  revelation  given  in 
a  dream.  A  frequent  dream  is  of  the  coining  of  white 
men  (Nias,  Minahassa).  A  Dayak  dreamed  that  the 
heathen  had  a  sad  lot,  and  the  Christian  a  pleasant  one  in 
the  other  world,  and,  therefore,  he  desired  to  become  a 
Christian.  "  Where  man  cannot  be  brought  to  salvation  by 
higher  motives,  God  makes  use  of  means  based  upon  the 
thoughts  and  feelings  of  these  uncivilised  men.  The  dream 
is  such  a  means.  Dreams  yield  them  no  spiritual  instruction, 
no  deep  utterances  ;    but  rather  very  material  directions  in 

1  "  In  1899-1900  the  famine  in  Jeypur  was  preceded  by  a  report  that  all 
who  had  no  friend  would  die.  The  rumour  issued  from  Puri  in  Orissa.  The 
Chief  Priest  there  was  absorbed  in  the  Revelation  of  John,  and  prophesied 
to  the  times  :  '  Seek  for  a  friend  or  you  will  die.'  When  we  came  with  the 
answer,  Jesus  is  the  best  friend,  hundreds  closed  with  the  Gospel." 


AGENCIES  THAT  CLEAR  THE  WAY         179 

harmony  with  their  natural  hardened  hearts.  The  main 
thing  is  that  their  hearts  are  thereby  opened  to  the  action 
of  the  gospel.  God,  in  His  great  love,  takes  the  natural  man 
as  he  is,  and  trains  him  for  His  child." 

Merensky  says  that  among  the  Basuto  "dreams  were 
frequently  the  means  by  which  heathen  already  quickened 
were  driven  to  decision.  The  contents  of  the  dream  seemed 
to  us  to  have  no  meaning,  but  the  heathen  felt  differently, 
and  frequently  received  abiding  impressions  from  it.  Many 
believed  that  they  had  seen  the  Lord  in  a  dream,  and  had 
received  commands  from  him.1  Skrefsrud  the  Norwegian 
missionary  reports  the  following  dream  by  an  old  man  among 
the  Santals.  He  dreamed  that  a  man  appeared  to  him  and 
said,  "Go  from  thy  village  to  a  place  which  I  shall  shew 
thee  ;  thou  wilt  find  something  which  thou  wilt  take  to  the 
missionary,  and  he  will  explain  it  to  thee.  Thereby  thou  wilt 
receive  life  ;  and  then  thou  wilt  bring  it  to  others."  He  went 
to  the  place  by  night,  and  after  long  waiting  found  a  piece  of 
written  paper,  which  he  carried  to  the  missionary.  It  was 
a  Christian  Santal  poem,  and  this  the  missionary  used  to 
expound  to  him  the  message  of  salvation.  He  came  to 
Christ,  and  laboured  to  bring  his  village  to  the  truth.2 

Old  predictions  also  prepare  the  way  for  the  acceptance  of 
the  Gospel.  During  the  missionary  tells  of  a  man  in  East 
Africa  who  had  heard  from  his  childhood  of  an  old  prophecy 
current  among  his  people,  that  after  the  time  of  the  Arabs 
would  begin  a  time  of  white  people,  and  these  white  people 
would  be  taught  of  God.  About  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century  an  old  man  of  the  black  people  in  Africa,  a  Kaffir, 
gathered  all  his  children  round  him  and  said,  "  Dear  children, 
I  have  a  presentiment  that  in  a  short  time  good  people  will 

1  A  certain  Masadi  dreamed  that  the  last  day  had  come  ;  another  time  he 
saw  in  a  dream  a  paper  flying  towards  heaven  and  heard  a  voice  saying,  "So 
art  thou  to  go  to  heaven  when  thou  diest "  ;  the  third  time  he  saw  the  glory 
of  heaven  in  a  dream.  The  man  then  learned  with  great  zeal.  Many  other 
examples  are  given  in  this  book. 

2  King,  afterwards  a  devoted  evangelist  among  the  Saramacka,  was  deter- 
mined by  a  dream  to  give  up  idolatry.  His  way  was  marked  out  in  the  vision 
in  its  minutest  details,  and  his  whole  village  afterwards  followed  him. 


180      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

come  to  us  from  afar,  who  will  tell  us  that  our  souls  at  death 
will  go  to  either  a  good  or  a  bad  place.  Now  as  soon  as  you 
hear  that  such  people  have  come,  do  not  remain  here,  but 
go  forth  and  hear  them."  The  most  unique  instance  of  this 
kind  is  reported  of  the  Karens.  Among  them  was  an  old 
prophecy,  which  was  occasionally  repeated  by  a  magician  in 
an  ecstatic  condition,  that  their  deliverance  would  one  day  be 
brought  about  by  white  foreigners.  These  men  would  have 
the  "  word  of  Ywah  "  (God),  which  the  Karens  had  lost,  and 
which  the  white  men  would  bring  them.  The  universal 
hope  of  white  foreigners  who  would  bring  them  God's  book 
opened  the  way  for  the  Gospel  in  many  provinces.  The 
Karens  evangelists  were  received  by  the  heathen  everywhere 
as  soon  as  they  appealed  to  the  universally  known  prediction 
about  the  book  of  God. 

/Visions,  which  are  on  the  same  level  as  dreams  among 
uncivilised  peoples,  may  serve  as  signposts.  News  of  an 
extraordinary  vision  among  the  Papuans  was  recently  brought 
from  Kaiser  William's  Land.  People  came  one  day  in  great 
excitement  to  Hanke  the  missionary,  entreating  him  to  come 
quickly  to  their  village.  There  he  found  them  all  solemnly 
assembled,  and  was  told  the  following  story.  In  the  interior 
of  the  land  a  Ian  tamo  (man  from  heaven)  has  come  to  earth 
with  his  child.  He  has  broken  all  weapons  and  magic  imple- 
ments, and  has  commanded  the  Papuans  to  pack  up  their 
heathen  utensils  in  baskets.  In  a  separate  basket  he  has 
packed  kernels  of  all  kinds  of  fruit,  as  a  sign  that  it  was  he 
who  created  all  things  and  that  they  are  his  property.  In  a 
third  basket  he  has  placed  a  child.  The  occult  worship,  the 
kernel  of  the  Papuan  religion,  was  false,  and  all  utensils  con- 
nected with  it  must  be  burned.  But  all  that  the  missionary 
had  said  to  them  about  the  words  of  God  was  true,  and  to 
him  the  baskets  must  be  given.  They  then  placed  the  baskets 
before  Hanke.  He  says  that  the  affair  is  something  which 
he  cannot  altogether  understand,  but  adds,  "  This  much  at 
any  rate  is  certain,  that  under  the  Divine  guidance  a  fire  has 
been  kindled  by  something  which  I  cannot  fathom,  and  it 
continues  to  burn,  though  accompanied  with  much  smoke." 


AGENCIES  THAT  CLEAR  THE  WAY         181 

The  following  Saturday  twenty-three  men  applied  for  in- 
struction with  a  view  to  baptism,  and  next  day  they  were 
joined  by  nine  girls  and  two  women.  This  vision  seems  to  be 
the  beginning  of  a  change.  For  while  the  results  gained  by 
twenty  years  of  painful  mission  work  were  virtually  nothing, 
heathenism  is  shattered  to  its  basis  by  this  event,  and  the 
number  of  candidates  for  baptism  has  steadily  increased. 

The  psychological  interpretation  of  such  dreams  and  visions, 
numerous  enough  if  collected  from  mission  reports  to  fill 
volumes,  is  that  the  heathen  who  associate  with  mission- 
aries are  more  or  less  keenly  taken  up  with  the  new  religion, 
and  that  their  dreams  reflect  thoughts  and  incitements  in 
them  which  have  hardly  risen  into  full  consciousness.1  The 
high  opinion  which  the  Animist  has  of  dreams  as  means  of 
bringing  him  into  contact  with  a  supernatural  world  will 
make  anything  that  comes  to  him  in  dreams,  and  whose 
connection  with  his  own  inner  life  he  does  not  see,  affect  him 
more  powerfully  than  intellectual  reflections.  God,  like  a 
wise  teacher,  condescends  to  the  child-like  thought  of  uncivil- 
ised man,  that  He  may  tell  him,  in  a  way  he  can  understand, 
things  which  he  would  otherwise  hardly  accept.2  We  cannot 
fully  explain  these  soul-processes  without  the  thought  of  the 
Divine  influence  working  there,  for  they  are  often  opposed  to 
the  knowledge  and  will  of  him  who  has  them,  and  force  him 
to  actions  for  which  he  can  find  in  himself  neither  the  power 
nor  the  inclination.  That,  however,  does  not  imply  that 
false  ideas  and  misunderstandings  may  not  be  mixed  up  with 
them.  It  is  not  a  question  of  revelations,  but  of  rude  shocks 
meant  to  point  them  to  the  revealed  truth. 

We  must  not  banish  such  experiences  to  the  realm  of  fable. 

1  Such  a  man  may  have  deep  impressions  and  stirrings  of  conscience  which 
he  can  neither  understand  nor  realise.  Such  experiences  assume  in  dreams, 
however,  a  form  intelligible  to  him.  Several  examples  of  dreams  with  im- 
portant results  are  given  by  Kriiger,  "Die  Mission  der  freien  Kirchen  der 
romanischen  Schweitz,"  p.  169. 

2  We  see  the  condescension  with  which  God  adapts  Himself  to  man's  under- 
standing. To  us,  on  whom  the  sun  of  truth  has  risen,  He  reveals  Himself  in 
His  word  ;  to  those  who  sit  in  darkness  He  reveals  Himself  by  the  candle- 
light of  dreams  and  the  like. 


V 


■J 


182      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

They  are  too  well  attested  ;  and  they  are  met  with  everywhere 
among  animistic  peoples  with  considerable  regularity.  Neither 
must  we  overestimate  them.  They  have  nothing  more  than 
a  preparatory  significance ;  they  lead  no  further  than  to  the 
door  of  the  Gospel.  Like  other  Divine  reminders  they  may 
be  disregarded  ;  they  may  also  be  misinterpreted  and  abused. 
Anyhow,  in  innumerable  cases  they  have  fulfilled  their  pur- 
pose of  pointing  stupefied  heathen  to  the  gift  of  the  Gospel, 
which  they  had  hitherto  overlooked.  In  such  divinely  in- 
fluenced processes  of  soul,  which  have  abundant  parallels  in 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  we  see  the  sway  of  God, 
whose  sovereign  hand  interposes  in  the  destiny  of  men  and 
turns  their  hearts  like  the  water-brooks. 

The  same  Divine  interposition  produces  another  kind  of 
preparation  which  remains  to  be  discussed.  The  attitude  of 
heathenism  as  a  whole  to  the  Gospel  is  rigid  and  repellent. 
All  the  more  surprising  is  it  to  find  in  the  majority  of 
mission  fields,  truth -seeking  souls  who  in  the  most  trying 
circumstances,  with  all  around  them  hostile  to  the  new  re- 
ligion, open  their  ears  and  hearts  to  the  foreign  message. 
These  are  people  who  have  fallen  away  from  the  traditional 
national  religion,  not  fruits  which  it  has  ripened ;  men  pre- 
disposed by  God,  men  in  whom  the  presentiment  of  the 
living  God,  almost  dead  in  the  average  heathen,  has  been 
awakened  and  raised  to  become  a  longing ;  men  in  whose 
hearts  a  chord  vibrates  at  the  first  preaching  of  the  good 
message.  These  men  with  their  anima  naturaliter  Christiana 
are  called  to  be  guides  and  interpreters  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion to  their  heathen  countrymen.  They  are  wedges  driven 
into  heathenism.  The  final  object  of  mission  work  is  the 
christianising  of  the  nation,  and  the  missionary  must  not 
hesitate  to  baptise  these  individual  forerunners  as  they 
might  be  called.  For  these  men  are  destined  to  be  a  bless- 
ing.  The  herd  requires  individual  leaders  with  the  courage 
to  break  through  the  tradition  and  show  the  multitude  that 
they  can  become  Christians  without  suffering  any  harm.  The 
whole  odium  of  the  violated  tradition  will  of  course  fall  first 


AGENCIES  THAT  CLEAR  THE  WAY         183 

on  them,  and  they  will  seldom  escape  a  martyr's  death.  But 
that  only  strengthens  their  own  faith,  and  increases  their 
power  to  draw  others  after  them.  The  sufferings  of  the 
righteous  contribute,  as  so  often  in  history,  to  the  salvation 
of  their  people. 

The  task  of  missions  must  certainly  not  be  limited  to 
snatching  these  predisposed  souls  from  the  general  ruin,  and 
gathering  them  into  a  community  of  the  elect.1  There  must 
be  a  clear  consciousness  that  these  men,  as  stones  first 
broken  from  the  wall  of  heathenism,  serve  to  open  an  en- 
trance to  the  fortress,  that  they  are  given  to  missions  to  help 
the  conquest  of  the  nation.  The  work  of  the  missionary 
would  be  narrow  and  paltry  were  it  restricted  to  gaining  and 
nursing  these  seekers  for  God.  But  we  may  heartily  rejoice  in 
them,  for  they  are  given  in  a  trying  time  to  show  that  even 
a  stubborn  heathen  people  may  become  Christian.  They 
are  a  guarantee  to  the  pioneer  missionary  of  the  power  of  God, 
which  will  ultimately  shatter  the  citadel  of  heathenism.2 

Most  mission  fields  have  been  dowered  by  God  with  such 
first-fruits.  The  Battak  Mission  had  one  or  more  extra- 
ordinary men  as  pioneers  in  every  new  province  that  it 
entered.  Nommensen  the  missionary,  settled  under  the 
greatest  difficulties  and  dangers  at  Silindung,  a  province  till 
then  completely  closed,  was  soon  joined  by  a  chief  Radja 
Pontas  ;  for  prudential  reasons  he  was  not  at  once  baptised  ; 
but  by  his  decided  attitude,  and  his  personal  conviction 
of  the  truth,  he  gained  an  entrance  for  Christianity  among 
the  15,000  inhabitants  of  the  valley ;  nay,  he  helped  to 
spread  it  far  beyond  the  valley.  Such  a  forerunner  can 
exercise  a  far  greater  influence  on  his  people  than  the 
foreign  missionary.     When  the  province  of  Toba,  a  fortress 

1  Zinzendorf  certainly  advised  his  missionaries  not  to  work  directly  on 
any  heathen  in  whom  there  was  not  a  happy  disposition  to  an  honest  be- 
haviour, because  it  was  just  tliose,  e.g.  Cornelii,  Candacaeus,  etc.,  to 
whom  Jesus  sent  his  messengers  (Roy,  "  Zinzendorfs  Anweisungen  fur  die  Mis- 
sionsarbeit, "  a.m.z.  1892,  p.  336.     That  was  a  wise  precept  for  the  beginning. 

2  These  individual  personalities  sent  by  C4od  are  gold  coins  in  the  earthly 
reward  of  the  missionary.  It  is  they  chiefly  who  sustain  him  in  his 
work  when  he  can  see  few  results  (Bohner,  "Wie  ich  den  Heiden  predige," 
p.  20. 


184      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

of  heathenism,  was  attacked,  some  souls  were  found  there 
quite  unexpectedly,  who  seemed  to  have  been  waiting  for 
Christianity,  and  who  rendered  possible  its  entrance  into  the 
heathen  region,  champions  who,  after  the  majority  had  be- 
come Christians,  towered  a  head  above  all  the  others.  When 
doing  pioneer  work  in  Samosir,  I  also  received  the  gift  of  a 
heathen  prepared  by  God,  a  former  magic  priest,  whose 
heart  God  had  touched.  At  the  first  hearing  of  the  Divine 
invitation  he  threw  away  his  idols  and  magic  implements, 
and  began  with  his  family  to  lead  a  new  life ;  he  became  an 
unwearied  evangelist  among  the  heathen  who  could  not 
understand  his  change  of  conduct.  This  man  had  much  to 
suffer,  but  he  was  to  the  front  in  all  work,  a  genuine  gift  of 
God  to  the  mission.  Work  has  recently  been  begun  among 
the  heathen  in  the  north  of  the  Toba  Sea,  and  soon  there 
also  was  seen  a  heathen  equipped  by  God  and  ready  to 
help.  Before  the  arrival  of  the  missionaries  he  had  been 
led  in  marvellous  ways  to  doubt  heathenism,  and  had  been 
brought  to  Christianity  by  a  Gospel  of  Luke  that  had  come 
into  his  hands.  His  history  is  all  the  more  surprising, 
because  no  other  Battaks  can  read.  The  oral  word  alone 
has  any  chance  of  being  understood,  and  that  only  where 
the  understanding  is  slowly  opened  by  regular  instruction 
and  constant  illustration. 

Lett,  in  his  Memoirs,  tells  of  a  heathen  Ama  Gahonoa, 
afterwards  baptised  as  Fetero,  who  met  him  with  open  heart 
at  the  beginning  of  his  work  on  the  west  coast  of  Nias  and 
appropriated  the  Gospel  with  unsuspected  and  inexplicable 
susceptibility,  conformed  his  life  to  it,  and  then  earnestly 
set  himself  to  lead  his  fellow  tribesmen  to  Christ.  The 
missionary  Krumm  was  also  gifted  with  such  a  man,  one  of 
the  savage  head-hunters,  Sol  ago,  who,  inwardly  shaken  by  a 
so-called  little  heart-book,  opened  all  the  chambers  of  his 
soul  to  the  good  message  and  shot  far  ahead  of  his  fellow- 
countrymen.1     The  missionary  Fries,  in  his  pioneer  work,  has 

1  The  experiences  of  Krumm,  who  died  at  an  early  age,  are  better  fitted 
than  most  mission  reports  to  illustrate  the  dominion  of  the  living  God  in 
missions. 


AGENCIES  THAT  CLEAR  THE  WAY         185 

recently  spoken  in  his  reports  of  such  a  man  prepared  by 
God.  "  The  more  I  grasp  the  course  of  the  Christianising 
of  our  Nias  people  ;  the  more  I  come  to  see  that  the  gaining 
of  the  whole  people  for  the  living  God  is  the  only  basis  for 
the  training  of  the  individual  to  faith,  the  greater  is  my 
gratitude  for  the  conversion  of  our  Ama  Dahambawo,  who 
in  his  inmost  heart  has  grasped  the  essence  of  the  matter 
and  is  now  giving  it  forth  to  others.  Such  men  are  not 
laboriously  sought  and  won ;  they  are  given  by  God  and 
must  be  prayed  for  as  a  gift  from  God."  To  the  missionaries 
in  Dutch  New  Guinea  God  gave  a  man  who  very  soon 
received  the  Gospel  with  all  readiness  while  all  others  rejected 
it,  a  proof  that  on  the  hardest  soil  God's  Word  can  make 
flowers  spring  up  which  the  Heavenly  Father  hath  planted. 
The  Rhine  missionaries  in  Ovamboland  in  the  beginning 
of  their  difficult  work  found  a  seeker  for  God,  a  very 
distinguished  firstfruits  who  was  baptised  by  the  name 
Abraham  and  soon  proved  himself  a  zealous  evangelist.  In 
Bapediland  Merensky  quite  unexpectedly  came  upon  four 
people  who,  amid  the  darkness  had  been  longing  for  the 
Gospel  and  who  were  strong  enough  and  fearless  enough  to 
confess  the  Lord  before  their  heathen  countrvmen  and  their 
chiefs.  They  had  long  been  praying  to  God  to  send  them 
missionaries.  Merensky  narrates  the  career  of  these  men 
who  originated  a  mighty  movement  among  their  people. 

We  can  thus  see  that,  on  many  mission  fields,  God  is 
fitting  out  men  among  the  peoples  to  be  evangelised.  The 
forces  of  heathenism  characterised  above  and  the  hindrances 
resulting  therefrom  are  powerless  over  such  men ;  and  the 
bridges  necessary  elsewhere  do  not  need  to  be  built  for 
them,  facts  that  might  have  been  deemed  psychologically 
impossible.  They  venture  boldly  to  leap  the  gulf  between 
heathenism  and  Christianity,  between  darkness  and  light, 
between  falsehood  and  truth,  because  God  has  led  them 
and  equipped  them  in  a  different  way  from  the  multitude. 
Missionaries,  surprised  and  gladdened  by  their  presence,  see 
in  them  no  fruits  of  their  own  patient  labour,  and  no  ripe 
sheaves   of  heathenism,   but  rather   the  immediate  gifts  of 


r 


186      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

God.  We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  these  men  are  at  once 
finished  Christian  characters,  but  from  the  first  hearing  of 
the  Gospel  they  cease  to  be  heathen  ;  they  go  a  swifter  and 
surer  way  into  the  sanctuary  than  is  possible  to  other  heathen. 
God  creates  such  men  for  Himself,  because  He  means  to  use 
them  as  pioneers  among  their  people,  and  gratefully  we 
behold  in  them  a  proof  of  the  prevenient  grace  of  the 
Almighty. 

Such  facts  should  enable  us  to  appreciate  the  factors 
which  prepare  the  way  of  the  Gospel  in  an  unsusceptible 
heathen  world.  Sometimes  this  and  sometimes  that  element 
prevails,  according  to  the  peculiar  character  of  the  people. 
But  in  the  case  of  animistic  heathenism  generally  those 
factors  will  be  discovered  in  the  helps  we  have  named,  the 
heathen  sense  of  misery,  their  longing  for  education,  the 
superiority  of  Christian  races,  the  personal  influence  of  the 
messenger  of  the  Gospel,  the  influence  of  Christian  colonial 
authorities  on  the  heathen,  divine  interpositions  and  previous 
labours  of  truth-seeking  souls.  These,  as  a  rule,  must  first 
do  their  work  if  the  Gospel  is  to  find  hearers,  and  call  into 
being  the  presuppositions  needed  to  reveal  the  Gospel's 
power. 

Having  considered  the  nature  of  animistic  heathenism  and 
the  grounds  on  which  it  rejects  the  Gospel  in  principle,  and 
having  taken  account  of  the  preparatory  factors,  we  can 
now  enter  on  our  main  question.  If  greater  or  smaller 
groups  of  heathen  not  only  voluntarily  give  up  their 
traditional  religion,  but  are  made  new  men  by  the  Gospel, 
what  are  the  forces  which  the  Gospel  thereby  reveals  ?  Our 
simplest  course  would  be  to  let  the  heathen  Christians  them- 
selves answer  this  question.  They  can  best  give  account  of 
their  inner  experience.  Well,  so  far  as  we  have  utterances 
of  theirs  we  shall  gladly  present  them  as  crown  witnesses. 
But  unfortunately  we  have  little  material  of  this  kind  at  our 
disposal.  We  can  easily  understand  that  heathen  Christians, 
coming  over  from  Animism,  will  not  be  quite  able  to  give  a 
clear  analysis  of  what  goes  on  in  them  or  of  the  forces  which 
determined  them.     It  is  with  them  as  with  a  convalescent. 


AGENCIES  THAT  CLEAR  THE  WAY         187 

He  feels  the  returning  health  ;  he  rejoices  in  the  strength 
coursing  through  his  feeble  body,  but  nobody  asks  him  to 
give  a  logically  clear  description  of  his  condition.  What 
interest  has  he  in  the  dissection  of  his  vital  powers  ?  It  is 
sufficient  for  him  to  feel  their  effects.  Any  one  who  wishes 
to  observe  such  powers  must  be  at  a  certain  distance  from 
them.  The  young  heathen  Christians  who  have  come  from 
Animism  are  as  yet  scarcely  equal  to  such  a  task,  which 
demands  a  psychological  and  theological  training.  We  are 
therefore  thrown  back  on  the  facts  and  on  the  observation 
of  mission  workers ;  we  shall  draw  our  conclusions  from 
these  with  all  care. 


III.  THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE 

GOSPEL 

We  may  take  the  course  of  mission  work  among  the  Battaks 
as  typical  of  modern  Protestant  missions  among  animistic 
peoples.  When  heathenism  first  meets  Christianity  it 
decisively  rejects  it.1  But  gradually  by  patient,  persistent 
work  individuals  are  won,  who,  however,  are  thereby 
alienated  from  the  national  union.  Ten  or  fifteen  years 
elapse :  then  secessions  increase,  the  strong  tension  between 
heathen  and  Christian  is  lessened,  the  attractive  power  of 
tbe  Gospel  increased,  till  whole  communities,  provinces  and 
tribes  pass  over  to  the  Christian  camp.  To-day,  after  forty- 
five  years'  labour,  the  land  has  been  partly  Christianised,  and 
the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  the  majority  of  the  people 
will  break  with  heathenism  and  come  over  to  Christianity. 
A  similar  experience  in  other  mission  fields  shows  that  this 
is  due  not  to  any  chain  of  fortuitous  circumstances  favour- 
able to  the  work  of  Christianising,  but  to  the  vigorous  action 
of  laws  and  forces.  The  mission  on  Nias,  almost  contem- 
porary with  that  to  the  Battaks,  passed  through  the  same 
development.  There  was  the  laborious  preparatory  work, 
and  now  the  time  is  perhaps  not  far  off  when  the  whole 
island  will  become  Christian.  The  mission  to  the  Kols,  the 
Karens,  in  Uganda,  on  the  Niger,  in  the  South  Sea,  as  well 
as  the  earlier  missions  in  Minahassa,  Ambon,  etc.,  passed 
through  the  same  experiences.  No  civilised  heathen  nation 
as  a  whole  has  yet  been  won.  But  that  does  not  prove  that 
the  powers  of  the  Gospel  tell  only  on   uncivilised  peoples. 

1  The  first  missionary  who  visited  Sumatra  was  courteously  but  decidedly 
told  to  go  away.      The  two  who  followed  were  murdered  and  eaten.     Then 
came  the  Rhine  missionaries,  whose  first  messengers  had  to  fight  with  a  resist- 
ance they  found  it  hard  to  subdue, 
188 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    189 

In  Japan,  in  China,  in  India,  there  have  been  many  indi- 
vidual conversions  and  many  Christian  congregations  formed. 
In  these  civilised  countries,  for  reasons  which  cannot  be 
here  discussed,  the  forces  of  the  Gospel  have  not  been  so 
fully  at  work.1  The  soil  of  most  uncivilised  peoples  has 
been  better  prepared  for  the  reception  of  Christianity ;  in 
civilised  lands  a  longer  work  of  undermining  is  needed. 

What  is  it  that  induces  the  heathen  to  give  up  demon- 
worship  ?  What  are  the  forces  of  the  Gospel  that  mature 
their  resolve  and  translate  it  into  action,  that  renew  the 
nature  of  the  man  who  is  won,  transforming  ultimately  whole 
peoples  and  putting  them  in  full  possession  of  the  Gospel 
gift?  We  do  not  speak  here  of  the  motives  that  lead 
to  the  secession  of  individuals  or  even  of  groups.  These 
may  be  of  an  accidental  character ;  they  may  be  surface 
things ;  occasions  not  causes.  These  do  not  reveal  the 
powers  of  the  Gospel.  Such  motives  certainly  are  subject 
to  Divine  control,  but  they  are  only  bridges  leading  across 
to  the  new  land.  We  have  dealt  with  these  already ;  they 
follow  from  the  diverse  manners  in  which  the  way  is  pre- 
pared for  the  Gospel  message.  Heathen  may  turn  to 
Christianity  in  search  of  help  in  great  distress  ;  in  the  hope 
that  it  will  give  them  wisdom  and  social  advancement. 
They  may  be  drawn  to  it  by  the  superiority  of  Europeans, 
and  by  the  benefits  of  their  civilisation  ;  by  the  hope  of 
all  kinds  of  gain  from  the  love  of  the  missionary ;  by  a 
longing  for  peace,  etc. 

Our  own  religious  experience  teaches  us  that  the  Gospel 
contains  many  diverse  powers.  In  the  heathen  world  also 
it  brings  into  play  a  multitude  of  powers.  The  diversity  of 
its  gifts  renders  it  acceptable  to  diverse  people.  To  the 
Jew  it  commends  itself  as  the  religion  of  fulfilled  prophecy  ; 
to  the  Greek  as  the  true  wisdom  ;  to  the  Roman  as  the 
perfect  law  ;  to  the  German  as  the  ideal  service  of  the  Lord 
of  heaven.  Mission  preaching,  in  spite  of  its  simplicity,  may 
be  infinitely  rich  and  present  to  every  one  something  that 

1  Many  reasons  for  this  fact  may  be  gathered  from  our  discussions  in  the 
second  chapter  of  this  book. 


190      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

helps  him  afterwards  to  grasp  the  whole.  Harnack  says  of 
the  mission  preaching  of  the  early  Church  :  "  In  innumerable 
cases  decision  was  produced  by  one  single  ray  of  the 
light ;  one  man  was  gained  by  the  Old  Testament,  another 
by  the  exorcism  of  demons,  a  third  by  the  purity  of  Christian 
life,  another  by  monotheism  or  by  the  prospect  of  eternal 
life,  or  by  the  depth  of  its  speculation,  or  the  social  standing 
which  he  thereby  obtained."  x  In  like  manner  Hoch  says  : 
"The  many-sidedness  of  Christianity,  based  as  it  is  in  the 
variety  of  the  gifts  it  offers  and  in  the  equally  various  needs 
of  the  human  heart,  cannot  but  suggest  that  the  Gospel  for 
more  than  one  reason  must  appear  to  the  heathen  worthy  of 
all  acceptance.  If  Christ  is  made  unto  us  wisdom  and 
righteousness  and  sanctification  and  redemption,  it  follows 
that  a  desire  for  any  of  these  gifts  may  lead  a  human 
heart  to  Christ.  "  The  light  is  comprehended  in  very 
different  degrees  and  from  the  most  diverse  standpoints,  and 
the  salvation  that  is  in  Christ  has  also  many  aspects." 

We  need  not  expect  to  see  the  whole  fullness  of  the  Divine 
power  operate  at  once  upon  the  heart  of  a  converted 
heathen.  Sometimes  the  foreground  is  occupied  by  this,  some- 
times by  that  power  which  yet  never  remains  in  isolation, 
but  must  labour  to  draw  the  others  to  itself.  What  are  the 
aspects  of  evangelical  preaching  most  likely  to  win  the 
Animist  ?  In  all  probability  these  will  be  whatever  meets 
a  felt  want  in  the  heathen  heart  and  promises  satisfaction 
to  a  rudimentary  capacity.  So  far  and  so  far  only  does  the 
message  find  prepared  hearts.  There  are  empty  places  in 
the  heathen  heart  which  Christianity  seeks  to  fill.  Nothing 
|  in  the  Gospel  will  make  any  impression  on  the  heathen  save 
that  which  brings  an  answer  to  some  conscious  or  uncon- 
scious question  of  his  heart.  The  Gospel  appears  to  a 
heathen  worthy  of  acceptation  when  it  brings  a  gift  which 
meets  some  defect  of  his  religion  ;  a  defect  which  he  perceives 
at  once  in  the  light  of  the  offer.  That  gift,  making  him  con- 
scious of  his  earlier  destitution  and  error,  necessarily  appears 
to  him  valuable.     If  the  Animist  had  a  painful  sense  of  his 

1  Harnack,  I.e.,  p.  87. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    191 

low  moral  condition  the  first  thing  that  would  make 
Christianity  desirable  would  probably  be  its  morality.  This 
may  be,  in  isolated  cases,  but  not  as  a  rule.  A  knowledge  of 
the  characteristic  features  and  forces  of  animistic  heathenism 
will  show  us  how  to  trace  the  workings  of  the  Gospel. 

One  of  these  characteristics  is  uncertainty.  The  answer 
which  animistic  heathens  give  to  every  deeper  question  is  : 
"  We  do  not  know."  x  They  become  conscious  of  this  lack  of 
certitude  only  when  confronted  with  religious  convictions 
differing  from  their  own.  The  messenger  of  the  Gospel 
comes  to  them  with  a  definite  announcement,  some  sure 
information  about  God  and  their  relation  to  Him,  about  the 
origin  and  destiny  of  man,  the  life  after  death,  good  and  evil. 
The  preacher's  certainty  about  things  which  the  Animist 
assumes  to  be  generally  unknown  is  impressive  to  him.  He 
feels  painfully  his  own  uncertainty.  At  first  the  effect  is  merely 
formal.  The  appearance  of  certainty  anywhere  impresses 
the  uncertain.  Before  the  heathen  have  attained  to  any 
clear  conception  of  the  contents  of  the  message,  and  what- 
ever may  be  the  attitude  which  they  take  up  towards  it,  the 
certainty  of  its  preachers  and  adherents  makes  them,  for  the 
first  time,  feel  the  uncertainty  of  their  own  inheritance  taken 
over  by  them  unthinkingly.  The  missionary  activity  of  the 
Church  of  the  first  days  had  a  similar  experience,  though 
their  experience  rested  on  a  different  psychological  basis. 
The  multitude  of  religions,  each  contradicting  one  another, 
made  men  utterly  uncertain  ;  and  it  drew  them,  in  that 
consciousness  of  their  ignorance,  towards  the  Christian 
religion,  Avhich  made  a  categorical  demand  for  faith. 
Harnack  says  of  this :  "  We  should  be  greatly  mistaken 
were  we  to  assume  that  the  bold  summons  to  believe  the 
authorities,  and  dismiss  reason,  acted  on  the  majority  of  men 
as  a  hindrance  to  their  accepting  the  Christian  religion.  The 
contrary  was  certainly  the  case.  The  more  peremptorily  and 
exclusively  a  religion  insists  on  the  demand  for  faith,  the 
more  certain  and  reliable  it  will  seem  to  the  majority  to  be  ; 

1  See  pp.  75-81. 


192      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

the  more  it  deprives  them  of  the  duty  of  responsibility,  and 
of  reflecting  on  the  truth  of  it,  the  more  will  they  welcome 
it.  Every  authority  confidently  asserted  has  a  quieting 
effect.  Moreover,  the  most  paradoxical  dogmas,  such  as 
mock  all  experience  and  rational  reflection,  are  most 
welcome  ;  they  seem  to  offer  a  guarantee  that  they  contain 
not  merely  human,  and  therefore  unreliable,  but  divine 
wisdom."  J  That  is  a  description  of  a  formal  power  pos- 
sessed by  evangelic  preaching,  the  power  of  authority,  as 
contrasted  with  the  uncertainty  pertaining  to  heathenism. 

The  Mohammedan  propaganda  has  also  the  benefit  of  this 
overmastering  power  of  conviction.  It,  too,  asserts  some- 
thing of  whose  truths  the  preacher  is  absolutely  certain.  It 
sustains  its  position  with  fanatic  zeal  weakened  by  no  doubt, 
and  thereby  it  puts  to  rout  the  uncertainty  of  heathenism. 
Islam  neither  proves,  nor  persuades,  nor  disputes  ;  it  simply 
asserts,  and  what  has  heathen  ignorance  to  oppose  to  such 
imperious  certainty  ? 

The  human  soul  has  a  craving  for  certainty  regarding  all 
that  pertains  to  the  supersensual  world.  Hence,  the  heathen 
clings  to  his  priest,  glad  to  have  some  one  on  whose  know- 
ledge he  can  rely.  He  listens  to  the  words  of  inspired 
mediums,  and  obeys  them  because  they  are  professedly 
reports  from  a  world  of  which  the  multitude  admittedly 
know  nothing.  Hence,  also,  the  anxious  clinging  to 
tradition,  and  to  all  the  customs  inherited  from  the  fathers. 
The  representative  of  the  Christion  religion  bringing  a 
message  which  is  yea  and  amen  meets,  in  this  way,  a  need  of 
which  the  heathen  was  not  formerly  conscious,  but  of  which 
he  becomes  conscious  at  the  call  of  that  assured  proclamation. 

If  the  messenger  of  the  Gospel,  therefore,  wishes  to  make 
any  impression,  he  must  himself  have  sure  convictions. 
Should  he  come  without  the  assurance  that  he  is  bringing 
them  the  absolute  and  true  religion,  his  words  will  find  no 
echo  in  the  hearts  hungering  for  certainty.  In  the  contest 
with  Islam  he  will  be  defeated.  He  must  be  convinced  that 
he  is  divinely  commissioned  ;    he  must  be  prepared  to  suffer, 

1  Harnaek,  I.e.,  p.  222. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    193 

and  to  stake  his  life  on  the  truth  of  his  message.  That  alone 
can  awaken  the  corresponding  conviction  in  the  hearts  of  the 
heathen.  Let  him  admit  in  his  heart  that  Christianity  is 
not  the  absolute  truth,  but  only  a  good  religion,  the  best, 
perhaps,  existing,  and  his  power  is  gone.  Formally  con- 
sidered, his  preaching  would  make  no  impression.  "  Unless 
he  (the  missionary)  is  firmly  convinced  that  he  is  bringing 
the  heathen  something  which  they  lack  and  which  they 
need  ;  that  Christianity  is  meant  for  all  mankind  ;  that  it 
contains  the  truth  ;  he  had  better  remain  at  home,  for  he 
will  work  in  a  half-hearted  way,  and  his  words  will  lack 
the  compelling  power  which  attends  only  upon  words  sus- 
tained by  faith's  absolute  assurance."1  The  immovable 
certainty  of  faith  is  the  only  power  capable  of  bringing  over 
to  itself  men  of  another  way  of  thinking,  and  of  satisfying 
the  hearts  of  ignorant  men  who  are  longing  for  something 
certain.  The  man  not  firmly  convinced  that  Christianity  is 
a  religion  for  the  whole  world  will  lack  the  power  which 
that  conviction  gives,  and  had  better  give  up  all  thought  of 
mission  work.  Such  a  missionary  "  comes  to  the  heathen 
saying,  I  bring  you  a  new  religion  ;  but  whether  it  is  the 
perfect  religion  I  do  not  know.  He  would  be  a  very  simple 
heathen  who  would  be  tempted  by  that  kind  of  preaching  to 
give  up  the  religion  in  which  he  was  born  and  bred."  Speak- 
ing from  his  own  experience,  a  missionary  declares  that 
"preaching  to  the  heathen  must  be  very  definite.  The 
preacher  must,  at  all  times,  be  ready  to  lay  down  his  life 
for  what  he  preaches.  No  sermon  will  make  any  impression 
on  hard  heathen  hearts  that  is  not  delivered  with  perfect 
assurance.  I  have  always  found  that  the  form  in  which  the 
prophets  preached  to  the  common  people  is  the  standard 
for  preaching  to  the  heathen.  .  .  .  They  stand  forth  as] 
messengers  of  God  with  a,  Thus  saith  the  Lord  .  . 
Preachers  to  the  heathen  should  know  that  they  are  owned 
of  God  when  they  firmly  believe  in  the  words  they  preach." 
Every  foreign   missionary  will  agree   with  that.      Firmness 

1  Mirbt,    "Die    innere    Berechtigung  und    Kraft    der   Christentums    zur 
Weltmission,"  p.  464. 

N 


194      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

of  conviction  is  the  only  thing  that  begets  confidence  in 
the  words  heard  ;  the  certainty  of  the  preacher  communicates 
itself  to  the  hearers. 

It  is  important  to  notice  also  that  this  bearer  of  certain 
knowledge  has,  by  the  purity  of  his  life,  shown  himself  to 
be  trustworthy,  and  has  led  the  heathen  to  put  faith  in  his 
words.  When  such  an  one  accompanies  his  proclamation 
of  the  saving  acts  of  God  with  the  emphatic  declaration  : 
We  are  His  witnesses,  His  testimony  cannot  fail  to  make  an 
impression.  Clearly,  then,  the  testimony  of  living  men  has 
advantages,  many  and  great,  over  that  of  the  written  or 
printed  word.  The  printed  book  certainly  brings  a  sure  and 
authoritative  knowledge,  but  it  lacks  the  support  of  a  trust- 
worthy witness,  staking  his  life  on  the  truth  of  his  message. 
Among  uncivilised  peoples  a  personal  offer  of  the  Gospel  is  the 
necessary  thing.  The  written  or  printed  word  is  ineffective 
for  the  most  part,  at  least,  in  purely  heathen  regions.  Its 
power  of  testimony  is  only  among  peoples  whose  faculty 
of  judgment  is  more  developed.1 

Missionary  preaching  must  therefore  take  the  form  of 
assertion.  It  was  so  with  the  preaching  of  the  Apostles. 
They  testified  of  what  they  had  seen  and  heard.  They 
did  not  prove  or  persuade,  but  asserted  ;  they  starved, 
suffered,  and  died  for  the  truth  of  their  words,  so  they  won 
hearts,  mastered  by  the  certainty  of  a  message  in  itself 
strange  and  paradoxical.  Certainty  about  the  declared 
acts  of  God  is  never  produced  by  proofs  or  disputations ; 
it  leaps  up  in  the  hearts  of  the  hearers  like  the  electric 
spark.  The  thing  proclaimed  lies  in  a  region  inaccessible 
to  logical  or  historical  proofs,  on  the  further  side  of  better 
understanding   or   want   of  understanding.      The   dogmatic 

1  Tracts  and  Christian  literature  can  only  be  of  use  in  those  parts  of  the 
heathen  world  where  men  are  accustomed  to  draw  their  knowledge  from 
books,  or  where  some  knowledge  of  the  Gospel  has  percolated  from  neigh- 
bouring regions  and  awakened  curiosity  to  learn  its  contents.  Moreover,  the 
heathen  is  prone  to  connect  superstitious  notions  with  the  "book  "  of  the 
missionary,  which  he  supposes  to  be  a  book  of  magic  {cf.  p.  167,  note  3).  It 
is  often  advisable  to  leave  the  book  at  first  in  the  background.  It  has  no 
authority  where  God  is  not  yet  known. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    195 

form  of  presentation  by  a  personal  witness,  confirmed  by 
the  suffering  of  that  witness  for  the  truth  of  what  he  says, 
has  proved  successful  in  every  foreign  mission-field,  whether 
among  civilised  or  uncivilised  peoples.  The  lost  wanderer 
must  have  the  right  way  pointed  out  clearly,  categorically. 
The  positiveness  of  the  guide  gives  him  confidence,  and  it 
removes  uncertainty ;  he  strikes  into  the  direction  pointed 
out,  and  never  asks  for  proofs. 

This,  I  repeat,  is  a  formal  power  of  the  Gospel.  The 
spread  of  Mohammedanism  and  of  grievous  errors  in  the 
Christian  Church  proves  that  a  false  message,  delivered 
with  the  certainty  of  conviction,  may  be  believed.  It  is 
necessary  that  other  powers  of  the  Gospel  come  into 
operation.  For  heathenism  is  not  merely  uncertainty  ;  it 
is  a  complex  of  powers.  But  as  uncertainty  belongs  funda- 
mentally to  animistic  heathenism,  and  constitutes  the 
essential  weakness  of  its  position,  the  evangelic  preaching 
must  enter  the  arena  as  a  witness  sure  of  its  convictions 
if  it  is  to  win  a  home  for  its  victorious  powers.  Entering 
the  lists  against  the  powers  of  darkness  without  an  im- 
movable confidence  in  its  victory,  it  is  defeated  ere  the 
battle  is  begun.1 

Heathenism  is  burdened  with  uncertainty  because  it  is ; 
built  upon  a  lie.  We  saw  above  that  lying  powers  are  at '' 
work  in  heathenism  fettering  the  ideas  of  truth  which  it 
contains,  and  begetting  an  atmosphere  of  falsehood  wherein 
the  animistic  heathen  are  as  ready  to  lie  and  deceive  as 
they  are  to  be  deluded  and  deceived  in  the  most  shameless 
fashion.2  This  lying  power,  which  has  disordered  the 
heathen's  power  of  judgment  in  moral  and  religious  ques- 
tions, is  opposed  by  the  Gospel  as  objective  truth,  as  a 
message  which  must  be  true  because  it  comes  from  God 

1  "The  heathen  must  be  made  to  feel  that  the  missionary  is  speaking 
about  something  on  which,  he  is  convinced,  life  and  death  depend.  They 
must  get  the  conviction  that  he  speaks  because  he  believes,  and  desires 
above  all  to  make  them  also  believe,  that  they  may  become  the  children  of 
God  and  heirs  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

2  See  pp.  88-96. 


196      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

Himself.  That  brings  something  entirely  new  within  the 
horizon  of  the  animistic  heathen,  a  religion  professing  to 
be  revealed.  The  idea  of  revelation  is  an  idea  unknown 
to  animistic  religions.  None  of  the  religions  of  the  Indian 
Archipelago  or  Africa  has  ever  conceived  of  God  making 
Himself  known  to  men.1  All  their  religious  knowledge  is 
derived  from  the  ancients,  not  from  god  or  gods. 

What  is  the  attitude  of  animistic  heathenism  to  this 
assertion  of  the  Gospel  that  it  is  revealed  by  God?  We 
should  have  expected  the  heathen  to  reject  emphatically 
this  offer  of  absolute  truth  as  a  thing  unproved  and  un- 
provable. But  that  is  not  so.  So  long  as  the  missionary 
is  little  known,  such  objections  may  be  heard  as,  How  do 
you  know  that  your  religion  is  from  God?  If  you  can 
raise  the  dead  we  will  believe  you.  But  this  is  said  only 
by  people  who  have  no  conception  of  the  new  message,  or 
by  those  who  have  good  reasons  for  turning  aside  from 
them  the  sharp  sword.  Such  sayings  also  soon  cease.  The 
greater  number  treat  the  Gospel  with  indifference ;  some 
treat  it  with  hostility  :  but  it  is  not  its  claim  to  be  revelation 
that  gives  offence.  Those  who  have  resolved  to  be  hearers 
of  the  word,  and  who  have  confidence  in  its  herald,  find 
no  difficulty  in  this  idea  of  revelation.  There  is  no  need 
to  demonstrate  its  probability  or  possibility,  for  no  one 
doubts  its  reality.  Something  in  the  preached  Gospel 
convinces  the  heathen  of  its  divine  origin.  During  my 
evangelistic  work  no  heathen  ever  asked  me  how  he  was 
to  know  that  the  message  was  true  and  that  it  came  from 
God.  The  heathen's  attitude  is  one  of  simple  assent  or 
rejection ;  no  one  objects  that  he  has  to  do  with  a  message 
from   God  or  from  the  God  of  the  white  people.2     What 

1  Mohammedanism  only  appears  with  this  pretension.  But  it  has  borrowed 
this  idea,  which  is  foreign  to  polytheistic  heathenism,  from  Christianity, 
whose  servile  imitator  it  is. 

-  Among  the  Christian  as  well  as  heathen  Battaks  the  Gospel  is  called 
"God's  word,"  among  the  Niassers  "God's  custom"  (law);  Christians  are 
called  "those  who  have  God's  word."  Standing  under  an  illumined 
Christmas  tree  in  Sifaoroasi  (Nias),  a  heathen  exclaimed,  "So  all  that  our 
priests  say  is  bodiless  (i.e.  without  reality,  fraud)  ;  what  the  missionary  says 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    197 

ultimately  deters  many  from  appropriating  the  "word  of 
God"  is  not  doubt  as  to  its  divine  origin,  but  reasons 
belonging  to  the  moral  sphere,  unwillingness  to  make  them- 
selves dependent  on  God,  or  too  great  indolence  to  reflect 
on  the  impressions  they  have  received.  The  truth  attests 
itself.1  The  Indonesian  would  meet  all  reasonings  of  human 
wisdom  with  doubts  or  subtle  rational  objections,  but 
heathenism  based  upon  lies  is  shattered  by  the  simple 
truth.  Nourished  on  lies  all  his  life,  the  heathen  is  con- 
vinced of  the  truth  of  revelation,  even  when  he  does 
not  yield  himself  to  its  discipline.  Contradiction,  elsewhere 
so  beloved,  is  silent  in  its  presence.  That  the  message 
professes  to  come  from  God  Himself  is  its  attraction.  The 
heathen  thirsts  for  authority,  and  he  is  willing  to  submit 
to  it  if  he  is  convinced  that  behind  the  authority  is  power. 
In  presence  of  the  Gospel,  which  is  grounded  on  the 
authority  of  truth  because  it  comes  from  God,  he  acknow- 
ledges the  falseness  of  his  own  religion,  even  when  by 
no  means  inclined  to  give  it  up.2  The  communication 
from  God,  attested  thereby  as  divine,  contains  in  itself  the 
evidence  of  its  certainty.  The  Ten  Commandments,  also, 
with  their  definite  "thou  shalt,"  "thou  shalt  not,"  are 
impressive  ;  the  heathen  hears  in  them  the  voice  of  God. 
In  Sumatra  and  Nias  we  have  often  seen  the  deep  im- 
pression which  the  Decalogue  made,  and  the  absolute 
approval  it  met.  There  is  something  strengthening  to  one's 
own  faith  in  seeing  the  immediate  effect  which  the  word 
of  truth  has  on  rude  heathen  hearts. 

The  self-attestation  of  revealed  truth  in  the  heathen  world 

is  not  his  own  invention,  but  is  obtained  from  God's  word."  That  saying 
was  not  inspired  by  authority,  but  was  spoken  quite  impulsively  under  the 
impression  of  the  Christinas  message. 

1  Paul  can  make  the  same  boast  of  his  heathen  Christians.  They  received 
the  proclamation  which  they  heard  of  him,  not  as  the  word  of  man,  but  as  it 
is  in  truth  the  word  of  God  (1  Thess.  ii.  13). 

2  An  important  heathen  Ewe  said :  "The  axe  is  a  very  little  weapon,  and 
it  is  applied  to  the  thickest  tree.  Christians  are  the  brandished  axe,  their 
number  is  small,  but  they  will  bring  the  great  tree  of  heathenism  to  the 
ground."  Christians,  therefore,  are  freed  from  the  observance  of  heathen 
laws.     For  "  we  have  no  desire  to  be  found  always  striving  against  God  ;  we 


198      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

is  possible  only  because  it  meets  a  natural  need  of  the  human 
heart.     Even  the  most  depraved  heathen  longs  for  contact 
with  God,  and  therefore  for  authentic  knowledge  of  Him,  a 
knowledge  which  God  alone  can  give.     Revealed  truth,  how- 
ever, unless  it  were  a  power  from  God,  could  not  have  such 
effect  on  heathen  minds  which,  entangled  in  a  system  of  lies, 
have  lost  all  knowledge  of  their  position  and  all  capacity  for 
judging.     The  revelation   which  the  heathen  needs  for  his 
recovery  is  not  a  knowledge  of  the  supernatural  gradually 
wrought  out  by  the  thinking  portion  of  mankind ;  for  such 
spiritual  culture  the  animistic  world  is  far  from  being  ripe ; 
it  would  come  into  disastrous  collision  with  the  course  of 
the  people's  development.     But  the  experience  of  missions 
proves  that  the  heathen  are  ripe  for  a  self-communication  of 
God  and  that  they  understand  it  at  once.     The  claim  of 
Christianity  to  be  a  religion  revealed  by  God  seems  to  offer 
to  heathenism  the  broadest  surface  for  attack,  for  it  gives 
and  can  give  no  proof  of  this  necessary  foundation  for  all  its 
offers  and  demands.     But  no    heathen    ever  asks  for  such 
proof.     He  has  an  inner  experience  of  the  truth  of  what  he 
hears.     There  is  something  within  him  that  responds  with 
the  certainty  of  an  echo.1     It  is  not  credulity ;  it  is  that  he 
is  mastered  by  it :  it  is  not  want  of  judgment ;  it  is  that  he 
is  inwardly  laid  hold  of  by  the  Divine. 

The  message  of  revealed  truth  appeals  to  the  conscience, 
that  is,  to  the  organ  for  the  Divine  in  man.  Stunted  as  this 
is  in  the  heathen,  it  is  awakened  by  the  offer  of  the  truth. 
As  the  iron,  buried  it  may  be  for  centuries  in  the  earth, 
responds  to  the  magnet  once  in  contact  with  it,  so  the  long- 
buried  conscience  turns  to  the  Divine  word  at  its  first  call. 
This  appeal  to  the  conscience  is  also  supported  by  the  Spirit 
of  God.     The  heathen  feels  inwardly  the  power  of  the  truth. 

have  seen  that  it  is  vain,"  said  the  heathen  (A.  M.  Z.,  1883,  p.  46).  It  is 
not  a  mere  phrase  when  Battaka  again  and  again  answer:  "Your  word  is 
true  ;  it  is  God's  word — but  I  have  this  or  that  to  do  before  I  come." 

1  A  candidate  for  baptism  in  Ovamboland  said  to  the  missionary  Wulfborst : 
"Teacher,  it  is  true;  surely,  surely,  it  is  true;  God's  word  is  true.  I  feel 
it ;  I  have  something  of  the  peace  of  God.  Really,  really  it  is  so.  I  feel  it 
in  my  heart." 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    199 

He  is  never  troubled  by  doubt.  Heathen  Christians  and 
catechumens  have  many  sins  and  weaknesses  of  all  kinds, 
often  somewhat  gross  ;  but  they  know  nothing  of  one  thing 
that  gives  us  much  trouble,  namely,  doubt  of  the  truth  of 
the  message  that  has  come  from  above.1  The  mission  of 
the  early  Church  had  the  same  experience.  Paul,  in  his 
Epistles,  gives  us  many  a  glimpse  of  the  defects  of  his 
communities,  and  these  are  sometimes  very  great ;  but  it 
is  significant  that  he  never  needs  to  argue  against  doubt. 
He  comes  into  conflict  with  doubters  only  once,  viz.,  in 
the  fifteenth  chapter  of  First  Corinthians,  but  it  is  not 
the  fact  of  Jesus'  resurrection  that  is  called  in  question, 
for  the  Apostle  makes  the  raising  of  Christ  the  basis  of  his 
demonstration.  No  heathen  Christian  questions  the  truth 
of  God's  deeds  as  declared  in  the  Gospel.  I  have  never 
heard  of  a  catechumen  or  heathen  Christian  turning:  back 
to  heathenism  because  he  could  not  master  his  doubts. 
Doubt  of  the  truth,  that  is  to  say  of  the  divinity  of  the 
evangelic  news,  never  barred  the  way  to  faith  on  the  part 
of  an  animistic  heathen.  When  a  Christian  falls  away  to 
Mohammedanism  or  relapses  into  heathenism  it  is  never 
because  Islam  or  the  religion  of  his  fathers  seems  to  him 
to  furnish  a  surer  guarantee  of  truth  than  Christianity ; 
it  is  always  the  result  of  practical  considerations,  family 
entanglements,  fear  of  martyrdom,  earthly  mindedness,  and 
similar  motives,  the  worthlessness  of  which  he  himself  ad- 
mits. Animistic  heathen  are  certainly  credulous  and  open  to 
various  influences ;  a  superficial  observer  might  be  inclined 
to  attribute  their  assent  to  the  truth  of  the  Gospel  to  their 
credulity.  But  this  credulity  is  found  only  within  the 
precincts  of  their  own  religion  ;  they  believe  every  magician 
and  soothsayer,  and  though  often  deceived  have  confidence 
in  their  magic  arts.  Everything  outside  that  is  reviewed 
with  deepest  distrust  and  rejected  with  caution.  If,  not- 
withstanding this,  men  still  far  from  thinking  of  secession 

1  The  doubts  which  are  sometimes  opposed  to  the  missionaries'  preaching 
in  India,  Japan,  and  China  are  mostly  borrowed  from  the  European  armoury. 
Genuine  heathenism  has  no  doubt  regarding  the  Christian  message. 


200      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

recognise  the  Christian  preaching  to  be  true  and  have  no 
doubt  of  the  fact  of  its  revelation,  the  power  that  conquers 
their  distrust  must  lie  in  the  truth  itself,  which  by  its  simple 
utterance  approves  itself  divine  to  hearts  that  are  even 
antipathetic.  To  the  heathen  wandering  in  the  mazes  of 
lying  and  uncertainty,  with  hearts  darkened  and  brutalized 
by  fear  and  demon  worship,  the  truth  comes ;  it  shines  into 
them  and  makes  them  susceptible,  which  proves  that  their 
hearts  have  an  affinity  for  revealed  truth. 

Again  it  is  clear  that  only  those  who  believe  that  the 
Christian  religion  is  revealed  by  God  can  count  on  winning 
the  heathen  by  the  power  of  the  truth.  They  only  go  forth 
in  the  belief  that  revealed  truth  cannot  but  conquer  heathen 
hearts ;  like  Paul  they  renounce  the  arguings  of  reason  and 
the  by-ways  of  worldly  sagacity  and  proclaim  the  revealed 
acts  of  God,  sure  that  these  carry  their  own  commendation 
with  them.  A  missionary  who  does  not  believe  in  the 
revelation  of  the  Christian  religion  cannot  rely  on  its  power, 
and  he  will  make  no  impression.  For  the  heathen  them- 
selves have  a  religion  non-revealed,  and  what  they  need  is 
contact  with  God.  Nothing  but  a  message  claiming  to  come 
from  God  Himself  should  ever  enter  the  arena  against 
animistic  heathen  ;  it  only  can  have  any  possible  superiority 
in  the  eyes  of  the  heathen  to  the  religion  they  have  inherited 
from  their  fathers.  They  believe  they  can  oppose  to  every 
other  religion  one  of  equal  value.  If  we  give  up  the  claim 
of  bringing  Christianity  as  a  revelation  of  God  to  the 
heathen  world  we  must  be  content  to  see  that  world,  sooner 
or  later,  passing  over  to  Islam,  for  Islam  claims  to  be  a 
revelation,  and  by  that  claim  the  heathen  national  cults  will 
be  put  to  rout. 

If  we  do  not  go  to  the  heathen  as  bearers  of  a  revelation  we 
have  no  right  to  destroy  with  brutal  hands  their  animistic 
view  of  the  world  or  rob  them  of  their  fatalistic  belief  which 
gives  them  strength  amid  the  wretchedness  of  life.  Their  own 
religion  is  in  that  case  really  better,  for  it  is  in  harmony  with 
their  spiritual  level  and  their  capacity.  The  missionary  who 
is  not  inspired  by  the   whole  Gospel  revelation  will  really 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    201 

have  nothing  to  reply  to  the  protest  of  the  Animist :  "Our 
religion  is  good  for  us  as  yours  is  for  you."  Were  Christi- 
anity merely  the  highest  stage  of  human  development  reached 
as  yet,  it  would  be  no  more  suited  to  people  at  the  begin- 
ning of  that  development  than  the  higher  civilisation  that 
is  also  a  sudden  irruption  among  a  primitive  people.  That 
civilisation  not  only  produces  caricatures,  but  is  often  more 
a  curse  than  a  blessing,  because  they  have  not  gained  it  by 
their  own  efforts.  The  Christianity  which  is  a  product  of 
the  human  mind  would  only  be  suited  to  the  developed 
portion  of  mankind  who  by  their  mental  discipline  are  capable 
of  understanding  it.  It  could  not  be  of  any  advantage  toj 
Animists  and  polytheists,  because  they  would  have  to  pass 
through  all  the  stages  of  religious  development  before  they 
could  inwardly  appropriate  it.1  The  watchword  would  then 
be  not  Jheevangelisation  but  the  education  of  the  nations. 
Or,  more  correctly,  it  would  be  to  leave  them  to  themselves  ; 
for  any  interference  in  their  strange  mental  life  would  only 
derange  the  natural  course  of  their  development. 

The  Gospel  however  claims  to  come  from  God  ;  it  is  meant 
for  people  of  all  stages  of  culture  and  can  be  understood  by 
all.  The  joyousness  with  which  Animists  receive  the  "  word 
of  God  "  proves  that,  in  spite  of  their  feeble  intelligence  and 
perverted  morals,  they  are  ripe  for  its  reception.  The  idea 
of  revelation  justifies  itself  in  the  heathen  world.  We  see 
here  an  inherent  power  of  the  Gospel,  the  power  of  truth, 
the  communication  of  the  Divine  brought  by  God  Him- 
self to  humanity,  and  conquering  from  within  all  human 
errors.  Here  lies  the  secret  of  the  success  of  foreign 
missions. 

Convinced  of  the  reality  of  this  power  the  missionary 
must  still  guard  against  one  danger.  He  must  not  endea- 
vour to  augment  the  power  of  truth  by  violent  assaults  on 

1  "Christianity  has  then  lost  the  advantage  of  absolute  superiority;  it 
takes  a  special  place  in  the  religious  development.  It  will  have  a  beneficial 
influence  solely  on  the  first  and  immediate  stages  of  that  development.  If 
it  comes  to  men  on  a  much  lower  stage  it  will  confuse  them"  (Kahler, 
"  Angewandte  Dogmen,"  p.  358). 


202      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

heathenism.  Certain  of  the  unique  power  of  his  message, 
he  should  refrain  from  trying  to  demolish  the  idols 
and  symbols  of  heathenism,  whether  by  violence  or  by 
mockery.  That  makes  no  impression  on  the  heathen,  at 
least  not  the  impression  which  the  messenger  of  the  Gospel 
intends  when  he  ridicules  their  religion,  when  he  disputes 
with  mockery  or  irony,  or  wTith  rude  hand  destroys  their 
fetiches  and  amulets.  Viewed  from  the  Christian  stand- 
point, heathenism  seems  for  the  most  part  a  caricature  of 
religion,  yet  to  the  heathen  himself  it  is  a  sacred  and  serious 
thing.  He  has  a  right  to  demand  that  his  religion  be  so 
treated.  Mockery  of  his  religion  means  to  him  mockery 
of  religion  generally.  That  path  may  lead  to  irreligion ;  it 
does  not  lead  to  a  new  faith.  Any  one  who  wishes  to  restore 
the  heathen  to  health  by  an  operation  must  proceed  anti- 
septically  ;  he  must  see  that  no  poisonous  germs  of  decom- 
posing mockery  adhere  to  his  knife. 

The  missionary  inclined  to  disputation  and  raillery  will 
at  first  know  far  too  little  of  the  heathen  religion  to  be  able 
to  direct  against  it  any  effective  shafts.  Instead  of  hurting 
idolatry  he  will  make  himself  ridiculous.1  His  ironical 
assertion,  You  worship  wood  and  stone  which  are  devoid  of 
life,  will  call  forth  laughter,  for  no  Animist  worships  wood 
and  stone ;  the  carved  figures  conceal  soul-stuff  in  a  special 
degree  or  are  animated  media  of  spirit  worship,  such  as  the 
ancestor  images  of  the  Niassers,  Papuans,  etc.  If  he  tries  to 
make  a  sacrifice  ridiculous  by  saying :  The  food  offered  is  not 
consumed  by  the  spirits,  for  it  remains  where  it  was  placed, 
he  only  betrays  his  ignorance  of  the  animistic  idea  of  sacrifice, 
for  no  heathen  believes  that  the  spirits  appropriate  the 
matter  of  the  food  :  it  is  the  soul  contained  in  it,  the  vital 
power,  which  they  take  from  the  sacrifice.     The  important 

1  Merensky,  I.e.,  p.  131  :  "We  rarely  ventured  to  argue  against  the 
heathen  views  and  usages  of  tire  people,  because  this  required  an  exact 
and  profound  knowledge  of  this  side  of  the  people's  life  which  at  that  time 
we  had  not."  Missionary  Becker  in  East  Africa  got,  from  a  man  whom  ho 
sought  to  reason  out  of  his  superstitious  notions,  the  answer :  "  There  are  things 
you  do  not  know,  because  you  have  only  been  a  short  time  with  us.  Later, 
you  will  come  to  know. " 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    203 

tliiug  even  for  living  men  is  not  the  matter  of  the  food  they 
eat  but  the  soul  which  it  contains.  The  missionary  has, 
therefore,  every  reason  for  keeping  in  check  his  mockery. 
The  dreadful  power  of  heathenism  over  men's  minds  would 
have  weak  foundations  if  it  could  be  overcome  by  such  cheap 
polemics. 

The  breaking  up  of  images  and  the  destruction  of  sanctu- 
aries do  not  in  the  mind  of  the  heathen  injure  Europeans,  but 
they    injure    the   natives.     Suppose    that    a    missionary    in 
Dutch  East  India  or  in  Africa  should  demolish  or  disfigure  an 
idol  and  then  say :  You  see  that  your  spirits  do  nothing  to 
me,  therefore  they  are  helpless,  and  I  advise  you  to  leave 
them, — what  impression  would  he  make  ?     Those  concerned 
would   think :    the  white  man  has  spoken  well,  the  spirits 
have  no  power  over  him,  for  he  is  under  another  god  and 
belongs  to  another  people  ;    but  their  wrath  will  fall  on  us. 
No  heathen  will  see  a  proof  of  the  weakness  of  his  gods  in 
a  European  escaping  hurt.     "  We  summoned  all  the  gods  of 
the  Toradja  and  challenged  them  to  punish  us  for  preaching 
about  the  living  God,  but  the  Toradja  told  us  that  the  gods 
could   do   us    no    harm,    but   might  do   them  harm."     The 
savage  Papuans  on  a  voyage  were  afraid  of  an  evil  spirit. 
To   prove  the  groundlessness  of  their   fear  the  missionary, 
Van  Hasselt,  began  to  row  himself,  but  the  only  result  was 
to  make  the  Papuans  say  :  "  The  spirit  will  do  nothing  to  you 
white  men,  but  he  may  harm  us  blacks."     The  same  reply  was 
heard  on  Lake  Nyassa.     The  Basutos  thought  that  the  God 
of  the  white  men  is  their  God  whom  they  serve,  but  the 
Basutos,  if  they  would  be  happy,  must  serve  their  own  gods. 
Schneider  says  of  the  bush  negroes  of  Suriname  :  "  If  the 
missionary  seeks  to  prove  to  them  the  impotence  of  idols 
by  violently  attacking  them,  he  is  told  :  '  Our  religion  is  only 
for  us  blacks  and  therefore  such  things  do  not  injure  you. 
We,  on  the  contrary,  would  be  smitten  by  the  judgment  of 
the  gods.' "     In  the  early  days  of  mission  work  in  Sumatra, 
the  Battaks  would  allow  no  missionary  to  enter  their  sacred 
grove  :    they  did  so  from  no  fear  that  harm  might  befall  the 
white  man,  which  indeed  they  would  have  wished.    No  ;  they 


204      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

were  afraid  that  the  insulted  spirit  would  avenge  himself 
upon  them,  his  worshippers,  bound  to  him  by  oath.1 

Iconoclastic  measures  excite  their  anger,  for  Animists 
believe  that  the  iconoclast,  without  endangering  himself,  is 
bringing  danger  on  their  head.  Experienced  missionaries  are, 
therefore,  very  cautious  in  their  polemics.  Van  Hasselt, 
after  twenty-five  years'  work  among  the  Papuans  of  Dutch 
New  Guinea,  says  :  "  I  have  given  up  all  keen  disputation 
against  idolatry  and  against  the  peoples  clinging  to  it.  I  am 
not  entirely  silent  on  the  matter,  but  the  power  of  preaching 
is  not  there."  A  Shambala  said  to  a  young  missionary  in 
East  Africa :  "  You  must  not  think  that  we  are  not  pained 
by  your  saying  that  the  words  of  onr  fathers  are  lies."  2  It  is 
not  wise  to  disturb  the  sacrificial  festivals  or  cut  down  sacred 
trees  where  the  soil  of  heathenism  has  not  been  prepared.3 
The  European  does  not  thereby  prove  to  them  the  impotence 
of  their  idols,  he  only  wounds  their  religious  feelings  and 
increases  their  fear.  It  is  different  later  when  heathen 
Christians  themselves  are  bold  enough  to  smash  some  image 
of  the  ancestors,  or  cut  down  a  sacred  tree.  Their  polemic 
is    felt    to   be   conclusive    by   their    countrymen,    for   they 

1  The  Papuans  of  Dutch  New  Guinea  thought  the  missionaries  were 
to  blame  for  an  epidemic.  The  ancestors  were  angry  because  of  them, 
but  smote  their  grandchildren,  not  the  offender  (Van  Hasselt,  I.e.,  p. 
148). 

2  In  the  island  Ceram,  Dominc  Brund  destroyed  and  burned  the  "Devil's 
house,"  the  heathen  temple  in  Kaibobo.  The  result  was  a  firmer  adherence 
to  heathenism.  In  Duma  (Halmahera)  the  missionary  Van  Dijken  publicly 
burned  spirit  houses  (little  houses  of  the  dead)  before  the  church.  Heathenism 
raised  its  head  higher  in  reaction  against  the  deed.  When  a  Romish  priest 
forcibly  suatched  the  amulets  from  a  Madagascar  chief  and  threw  them  into 
the  fire,  the  chief  in  his  wrath  slew  him.  The  missionary  Feyne,  on  the  Niger, 
incautiously  raged  against  heathen  usages,  human  sacrifices,  killing  of  twins, 
poisoned  cup,  etc.,  the  only  result  of  which  was  that  the  King  of  Onitsha 
reproved  him,  and  allowed  him  only  to  preach  about  subjects  he  approved. 
That  forced  him  to  discontinue  public  worship.  The  missionaries  Spieth  and 
Ostermeyer  maintained  in  the  discussion  of  the  Bremer.  Kontin.  Miss.  Conf., 
1905,  that  it  is  utter  folly  to  provoke  the  heathen  by  railing  against  their 
errors  ("  Verhandlungen,"  p.  103). 

8  The  Hindu  considers  that  tolerance  belongs  to  the  noblesse  of  a  religion 
of  the  importance  of  Christianity.  A  propaganda  which  employs  any  con- 
straint makes  him  distrustful  (Stosch,  "  Indien,"  p.  213). 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    205 

too  are  under  the  evil-bringing  power  of  their  demons  and 
ancestors. 

Rosier  testifies  that  such  polemics  have  no  convincing  power 
among  the  Shambala.    "We  might  try  to  ridicule  the  objects 
of  their  fear :  and  this  is  the  procedure  which  the  novice  is 
inclined  to  follow.     He  takes  up  boldly  a  little  magic  vase 
such  as  is  hidden  in  the  maize  field,  and  shatters  it.     Or  he 
meets  a  serpent,  and  sends  a  ball  through  its  head,  and  says : 
Why  are  you  stupid  blacks  so  superstitious  ?     Don't  believe 
all  these  absurdities.     That  earthenware  vase  and  this  dead 
serpent  cannot  harm  you.     Yes,  yes,  Bwana,  is  cried  from 
all  sides,  we  are  very  stupid  and  you  are  right.     We  do  not 
believe  in  these  tilings.      It  is  only  our  medicine-men  who 
have  so  trained  us.     But  next  morning  these  same  blacks 
may  be  seen  running  again  to  the  oracle  with  their  old  fear, 
and  if  they  reflect  at  all  on  what  the  European  said  to  them  the 
day  before,  they  say  to  themselves,  '  Ah,  yes !  it  was  easy  for 
him  to  speak  ;  he  is  a  white  man  and  himself  a  great  magician 
to  whom  the   magic  of  our  greatest  magician  can  do  no 
harm.'     And  should   they  once   more   encounter  the   same 
European,  they  will  take  good  care  to  show  him  no  more 
of  their  superstitions.     '  It  would  only  make  him  deride  us  ! ' 
No,  this  path  again  and  again  has  been  proved  impractic- 
able."    Even  Zinzendorf  warned  his  first  messengers  against 
such  tactics.     It  is  dangerous   "to  correct  or  punish  with 
untimely  zeal  people  who  do  not  belong  to  our  camp, — that 
is,  to  challenge  the  swine  to  turn  and  rend  us." 

Heathen  religiousness  is  determined  by  fear.  But  fear  is 
never  removed  by  derision  or  mere  violence,  as  we  see  in  the 
case  of  frightened  children.  Heathenism  is  groaning  under  a 
burden  of  misery  and  need.  Who  would  care  to  add  to  the 
grief  of  miserable  men  by  pouring  the  contempt  of  mockery 
on  their  unhappiness?  The  great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles, 
pattern  for  all  missionaries,  in  spite  of  occasional  irony, 
neither  destroyed  nor  ridiculed  any  sanctuary.  The  officials 
in  Ephesus  testified  of  Paul  and  his  companions,  "  These  men 
are  neither  robbers  of  churches  nor  blasphemers  of  our  gods  " 
(Acts  xix.  37).     It  is  of  no  use  to  mock  the  doings  of  the 


I 


206      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

magician  and  brand  them  as  deceptions.  The  heathen  simply 
do  not  believe  the  missionary  when  he  says  so.  No  one 
acquainted  with  animistic  heathenism  will  venture  to  say 
that  everything  done  by  the  magician  or  the  spirit  medium  is 
absolute  deception.  Anyhow  the  heathen  are  firmly  con- 
vinced that  the  spirit  of  their  ancestor  speaks  to  them  through 
the  medium,  and  that  the  magic  priest  is  able  to  traffic  with 
spirits.  Mockery  will  only  injure  the  mocker  in  the  eyes  of 
the  blindly  believing  heathen.  The  weapon  of  derision 
should  be  wielded  only  by  those  who  have  been  themselves 
involved  in  the  whole  entanglement  of  lies  as  deceivers  and 
deceived,  and  have  been  delivered  from  it,  i.e.  heathen  Chris- 
tians and,  above  all,  converted  priests.  I  have  often  seen 
striking  results  from  the  witness  of  one  such  person  among 
the  heathen.  The  solemn  awe  of  the  people  in  presence  of 
the  dreaded  man  has  only  to  be  seen  to  make  one  feel  that 
his  throne  is  too  firmly  established  to  be  overthrown  by 
derision.  But  if  this  dark  profession,  and  if  heathenism  in 
general,  is  inspired  by  powers  of  darkness,  we  must  seek 
sharper  weapons  for  the  conflict  than  those  of  sheer  violence 
or  contemptuous  ridicule. 

Uncivilised  men  are  deeply  impressed  by  the  superior 
wisdom  of  white  men,  but  the  impression  is  not  deep  enough 
to  make  a  mocking  word  or  a  brutal  act  of  violence  to  shake 
their  allegiance  to  the  religious  traditions  in  which  their  lives 
are  rooted.  The  messenger  of  the  Gospel  will  not,  of  course, 
conceal  his  view  of  the  heathen  religion  ;  but  he  will  not 
make  such  discussions  the  starting-point  of  his  message  ;  he 
will  speak  on  the  subject,  but  never  offensively,  and  only  in 
connection  with  the  positive  offer  of  the  new  religion.  We 
do  not  bring  the  spring  by  plucking  off  the  withered  foliage  ; 
the  new  buds  must  push  aside  the  old  dead  leaves.  When 
the  negroes  in  Suriname  were  called  on  to  destroy  their  idols 
and  give  up  their  heathen  cultus  they  answered,  "We  shall 
not  cast  out  the  dirty  water  till  we  have  got  clean  water." 

It  is  impossible  also  to  convince  the  animistic  heathen  of 
the  falseness  of  their  religion,  and  of  the  truth  of  God's 
revelation,   by    means   of  logic   and   deductions   of   reason. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    207 

Religious   life  is  not  produced  by  logical  expositions,  and 
religious  errors  are  not  conquered  by  enlightenment.1     Civili- 
sation   and   education   have   failed   to  uproot   old   customs 
and  superstitions  among   European   peoples,  educated  and 
uneducated  alike.    Even  in  Christendom,  nothing  but  inward 
religiousness,  that  is  a  true  relation  to  God,  conquers  super- 
stition and  false  religious  notions.     For  that  reason  we  do 
not  agree  with  those  who  would  first  educate  the  heathen,  in 
the  hope  that   their   absurd   superstitions   will   melt   away 
before  the  rays  of  enlightenment.     Were  this  theory  true, 
the  most  highly  educated  heathen  people  would  be  the  most 
enlightened  religiously.     But  the  crassest  superstition  and 
fear  of  spirits  are  rampant  in  India  and  China  as  formerly 
in  the  brilliant  Roman  Empire.    The  Animist  heathen  has  no 
desire  for  relisrious  enlightenment.     No  doubt  he  would  like 
to  fathom  the  white  man's  arts,  and  possess  his  muskets, 
machines,  and  wealth  ;    his  religion,  however,  remains  un- 
shaken by  the  magic  of  European  education.     The  Animist 
cannot  imagine  how  any  one  can  offer  him  education  without 
religion.     Strange  as  Christianity  is  to  him,  he  understands 
that  one  religion  may  be  exchanged  for  another  if  it  seems 
more  valuable.     But  to  the  native,  enlightenment  without 
religion  is  absurd.2     Religion  is  in  no  way  affected  by  any 
instruction  in  mathematics,  physics,  astronomy,  and  history  ; 
fear  is  not  removed ;  the  power  of  falsehood  is  not  broken. 
Education  with  all  kinds  of  intelligence  is  one  of  the  many 
fruits  of  the  Gospel  promised  to  this  life,  but  they  are  fruits, 
not  roots.     The  Gospel,  with  its  gift  of  reconciliation  with 
God,  is  the  only  foundation  capable  of  bearing  walls  ;  on  that 
foundation  culture  and  education  can  be  built,  but  not  con- 
versely.    Heathenism  can  only  be  affected  in  and  by  its  root. 
There  is  another  thing  the  missionary  will  gladly  do,  though 

1  Utschimura  was  not  interested  in  rational  proofs.  His  opinion  is  that  the 
Japanese  will  not  be  converted  to  Christianity  through  the  understanding. 

2  The  feelings  of  heathen  and  Mohammedan  are  alike  on  this  point.  The 
irreligious  Europeans  are  an  enigma  to  the  Javanese.  They  simply  cannot 
understand  that  there  are  men  without  religion,  and  think  that  the  so-called 
irreligious  are  secretly  cherishing  a  religion  which  for  some  reason  they 
conceal. 


208      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

fully  convinced  of  the  unique  truth  and  power  of  his  message  ; 
he  will  carefully  search  out  the  elements  of  truth  that  exist 
in  a  heathen  religion,  and  which  are  frequently  buried  under 
a  mass  of  superstition.  He  will  treat  the  heathen  as  seekers, 
and  take  a  sympathetic  interest  in  their  religious  life,  even  in 
its  errors.  He  will  believe  the  heathen  when  they  tell  him 
that  in  their  ceremonies  they  are  seeking  "life."  The  search- 
ing eye  will  discover  many  features  which  are  manifestly  life- 
utterances  of  a  soul  created  for  God.  He  will  rejoice  at 
seeing  how  all  the  events  and  undertakings  of  heathen  life 
demand  the  consecration  of  religion.  The  messenger  of  the 
Gospel  will  take  a  kindly  interest  in  the  wanderer's  search 
for  God,  his  sense  of  dependence  on  the  supernatural,  and 
rejoice  to  trace  it  through  all  its  errors.  He  will  find  there 
connecting  ideas  and  bridges  for  the  communication  of  his 
own  mind  to  them.  The  SeitriSaijuiovea-Tepot  will  be  to  him 
more  desirable  hearers  than  the  religiously  indifferent. 

Protestant  missionaries  agree  in  thinking  that  their  duty 
is  to  liberate  the  dim  remnant  of  God-consciousness  existing 
in  heathenism,  and  win  thereby  a  position  from  which  the 
preaching  of  the  new  faith  may  begin  to  be  understood.1  A 
dim  sense  of  righteousness  is  slumbering  in  the  heathen's 
heart.  In  matters  of  conduct  there  is  a  strange  confusion 
about  moral  ideas.  But  running  through  their  heart  is  a 
remembrance  of  purer  moral  standards,  which  has  not 
sufficient  energy  to  translate  itself  into  action,  but  which 
has  yet   sufficient   vitality  to   keep   it  from   being  entirely 

1  This  is  emphasied  in  all  discussions  about  preaching  to  the  heathen. 
Cf.  G.  Warneck,  "Evang.  Missionslehre  " ;  III.  i.  p.  131  ;  ii.  p.  95;  Bonner, 
"  Wie  ich  den  Heiden  predige,"  3  f.  ;  Hesse,  "  Heidenpredigt  in  Indien  "  ; 
Zahn,  "  Die  evangelische  Heidenpredigt,"  p.  72  ;  Dahle,  "  Verhandlungen  der 
Kontin.  Miss.  Konf.,"  1905,  p.  103.  The  earnestness  and  loving  sympathy 
with  which  heathen  religions  are  studied  by  Protestant  missions,  and  the  grains 
of  gold  sought  for,  is  proved  by  such  works  as  ;  Dilger,  "  Die  Grundziige  der 
Missionspredigt  in  Indien  "  {A.  M.  Z.,  1890,  pp.  505  ff.)  ;  Stosch,  "  Einige 
Grundbegriffe  der  Religion  in  tanmlischer  Sprache " ;  Kruyt,  "  Het  Ani- 
misme  ;  idem,  "  De  Inlander  en  de  Zending"  ;  Brutzer,  "  Die  Geisterglaube 
bei  den  Kamba " ;  Gloyer,  "Die  Heidenpredigt";  Spieth,  "Die  Ewe- 
Stamrae,"  etc.  No  one  has  more  diligently  studied  the  science  of  religion 
or  done  more  to  further  it  than  missionaries  of  all  denominations. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    209 

quenched  in  the  swamp  of  immorality.  God,  the  Creator,  is 
not  everywhere  an  article  in  the  heathen  creed,  but  the  idea 
is  lying  at  the  bottom  of  their  hearts,  and  forms  a  basis  on 
which  further  knowledge  may  be  built.  Many  veiled 
reminiscences  of  truth  are  found:  sacrifice,  the  certainty 
of  a  connection  between  this  world  and  the  next,  the 
memory  of  days  that  were  better  than  the  present.  A 
unique  religious  practice  which  contains  elements  of  truth 
is  found  among  the  Battaks.  We  mention  it  as  au  example. 
When  any  one  has  been  long  pursued  by  misfortune  the 
magic  priest  declares  that  he  is  under  a  curse  for  some  crime 
iu  his  family  not  yet  atoned  for,  some  secret  transgression  of 
the  custom.  The  father  of  the  family  betakes  himself,  along 
with  the  magician,  to  a  hill  where  sacrifice  is  offered  ;  then 
he  lays  his  hand  on  a  swallow  and  on  a  beetle ;  his  guilt  and 
its  curse  are  thereby  transferred  to  them.  The  creatures  are 
then  allowed  to  fly  off  with  the  curse.  This  atoning  act  is 
called  "  making  the  curse  fly  away."  That  betrays  a  dim 
sense  of  personal  guilt,  with,  of  course,  an  animistic  twist. 
Exact  study  will  show  similar  features  in  every  heathen 
religion.1  The  Kols  have  a  legend,  almost  Christian,  about 
a  Son  of  God,  who,  in  order  to  redeem  miserable  men, 
became  man  and  a  leper.  The  legend  of  a  flood  as  a 
punishment  on  a  wicked  humanity  is  met  with  among  many 
heathen  peoples.2  The  missionary  will  carefully  gather  such 
sayings,  and  make  a  skilful  use  of  them  in  his  sermons. 
"Nowhere  is  Christianity  when  in  contact  with  heathen, 
peoples  confronted  with  a  tabula  rasa ;  there  are  elements 

1  The  Niassers  believe  that  Bauwa  dano,  who  carries  this  earth  on  his 
shoulders,  produces  earthquakes  by  violently  shaking  himself  when  the 
wrong  of  men,  i.e.  Niassers,  has  become  too  great.  Men  are  then  frightened, 
and  remember  that  they  have  often  perverted  justice.  The  chiefs  are  assembled 
and  the  law  is  proclaimod  anew  in  presence  of  the  whole  people,  the  just 
measure  is  uniformly  fixed,  and  all  cheating  condemned.  If  the  earthquake 
has  produced  a  fissure  anywhere  the  solemn  judicial  assembly  meets  there, 
and  swine,  hens,  and  money  are  thrown  into  the  chasm  as  an  atonement  for 
the  wrongs  committed.  What  a  magnificent  occasion  for  the  introduction  of 
Christian  ideas.  The  terror  lasts  only  as  long  as  the  earth  trembles  to  its 
foundations. 

2  Cf.  p.  101,  note  1. 

O 


\ 


210      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

not  merely  repellent,  but  also  attractive :  there  are  ideas  not 
only  of  a  totally  customary  order,  but  also  of  a  kindred 
nature,  with  which  it  can  enter  into  connection." 

Kanso  Utschimura  expresses  himself  on  this  point  as 
follows  :  "  To  Paul,  and  people  of  kindred  spirit,  heathenism 
is  not  something  to  be  laughed  at,  or  even  to  be  pitied,  but 
something  to  be  understood,  something  into  which  one  must 
think  oneself,  and  treat  with  consideration  and  Christian 
kindness."  Utschimura  asks  us  to  appreciate  the  favourable 
side  of  Japanese  heathenism,  and  declares  that  it  is  "  the 
virtuous  people  (in  heathendom)  who  have  most  desire  for 
Christianity."  "  If  we  heathen  were  only  a  little  better  than 
the  higher  apes  Christendom  might  give  up  its  mission 
work  as  hopeless.  But  we  can  be  led  to  the  Cross  of  Christ, 
just  because  we  have  some  knowledge  of  right  and  wrong, 
of  truth  and  falsehood." 

But  these  scattered  elements  of  truth  are  only  points  of 
connection  for  evangelic  preaching.1  They  are  like  hooks  on 
which  we  may  hang  up  a  picture.  But  the  picture  must  come 
from  another  source.  Their  value  is  in  their  connection  with 
the  positive  message  of  salvation.  The  feeble  rays  of  light 
have  been  unable  to  prevent  heathenism  from  losing  God  or 
from  moral  ruin. 

Whatever  has  anything  divine  in  it  is  true.  The  truth 
convinces  the  heathen  because  its  contents  are  the  living  God. 
That  is  the  secret  of  the  Gospel's  power.  This  living  God  is 
brought  to  the  heathen  world  by  the  evangelic  message. 
Heathendom  is  far  from  God.2  It  has  a  dim  sense  of  the 
Supreme  Deity,  but  God  is  dimly  felt,  not  possessed. 
Animistic  heathenism    has   not   God ;    it  has  a  relation  to 

1  In  that  recognition  (of  the  existent  religiousness)  we  must  beware  of 
confounding  two  very  different  things,  points  of  connection  for  the  influence 
and  foundation  for  the  building.  Wherever  we  find  religion  and  religious- 
ness we  shall  find  connection  for  Christianity  ;  they  lie  in  the  heart  of  man 
and  in  the  tradition.  On  the  other  hand,  the  so-called  highest  religions 
of  culture  furnish  no  available  basis  for  a  fruitful  evangelising.  There  is  no 
basis  here  for  Christian  faith,  no  equivalence,  but  only  thorough  opposition. 

a  See  pp.  96-108. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    211 

demons,  but  has  lost  the  true  God.     The  Gospel  promises 
to  meet  this  want  of  heathenism.      Its  message  is :  There 
is  one  God,  the  Creator  of  heaven  and  earth  and  men ;  He  is 
almighty,  the  only  Lord,  and  He  only  is  to  be  feared  and 
worshipped.       That    is    the    first   positive   information    the 
Animist  has  ever  had  of  God ;  God  becomes  to  him  a  living 
person  and  not  a  nebulous  shadow.     That  knowledge  has  a 
mighty   emancipating    effect    on    the    polytheist,    who    has 
hitherto    believed    that    he    is    surrounded    by   a    host   of 
malicious  spirits  and  lower  deities.     How  blessed  the  thought 
of  having  to  do  with  one  God  only !     That  the  message  of 
the  true  God  has  such  a  redeeming  effect  on  the  heathen 
heart  is  possible  only  because  it  meets  an  inherent  need  of 
the  human  soul.     The  saying  of  Augustine,  "  Tu  fecisti  nos 
ad  te  (c/.   1   Cor.  viii.   6 :    ij/ixek  els  avrov)  applies   to   the 
heathen  as  well.     The  heathen  will  suffer  under  the  pressure 
of  a  mistaken  destiny  until  he  is  united  with  the  unknown 
God  whom  he  has  missed,  and  whom  he  has  sought  in  wrong 
directions.      For  man  was  created   to   find  his   destiny  in 
communion  with  God.      The  wanderings   of  thousands   of 
years  have  not  been  able  to  kill  this  predisposition.     The 
dim  sense  of  a  destiny  unattained  abides  with  him  on  his 
erring  way,  impelling  him  to  seek  out  the  Deity.     It  follows 
that  the  announcement  of  the  true  God  is  one  of  the  truths 
laid  hold  of  in  the  heathen  world  as  soon  as  declared.     The 
idea  of  God,   which  lies  dormant   in  heathenism  awaiting 
resurrection,  has  had  sufficient  vitality  to  open  the  heart  to 
the  preaching  of  the  truth  and  to   make   the   polytheistic 
heathen    understand   and   accept   the   message   of  the   one 
living  and  true  God. 

Ustchimura  touchingly  describes  the  liberating  effect  which 
the  knowledge  of  the  one  God  had  upon  his  mind  and  heart. 
"  I  was  now  taught  that  there  was  only  one  God  and  not 
many — over  eight  millions,  as  I  had  formerly  believed. 
Christian  monotheism  laid  its  axe  at  the  root  of  my  super- 
stition. .  .  .  My  conscience  and  my  reason  said  Amen  to  it. 
One  God,  not  many— that  was  a  glad  message  to  my  soul.  I 
was  no  longer  under  the  necessity  of  making  a  long  prayer 


212      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

every  morning  to  the  four  groups  of  gods  in  the  four  parts  of 
heaven  and  to  the  god  of  every  temple  that  I  passed.  I  no 
longer  needed  to  eonsecrate  one  day  to  this  and  one  day  to 
that  god  with  vows  and  with  abstinence  from  definite  things. 
I  now  marched  proudly  past  the  temples  with  head  erect  and 
conscience  unburdened.  No  god  of  that  temple  could  punish 
me  for  prayers  that  had  been  omitted,  for  I  knew  that  I  was 
protected  by  the  God  of  gods.  My  friends  soon  noted  my 
changed  mood.  Formerly,  as  soon  as  I  came  in  sight  of  the 
temple  I  was  dumb,  for  I  had  to  say  my  prayer  in  my  heart. 
Now,  I  chattered  and  laughed  joyously  all  the  way  to  college. 
I  did  not  regret  that  I  had  entered  into  the  covenant,  for 
belief  in  one  God  made  me  a  new  man.  ...  I  fancied  that  I 
understood  the  whole  of  Christianity,  so  inspired  was  I  by 
this  belief  in  one  God."  x  He  describes  faith  in  one  God  as 
the  first  step  in  his  conversion,  which,  elementary  as  it  was, 
had  an  extraordinary  liberating  effect  upon  him.  This 
testimony  of  an  intelligent  heathen  Christian,  one  of  the  few 
who  are  capable  of  observing  and  describing  how  they  were 
brought  to  Christianity,  is  typical  of  the  way  in  which  many 
heathen  come  to  God. 

To  the  heathen  this  one  God  is  alive,  proving  His  Deity  by 
great  and  mighty  action.  The  heathen  deity  is  powerless 
and  far  away ;  he  becomes  small  by  the  laws  of  perspective, 
and  is  eclipsed  by  the  threatening  demons  close  at  hand. 
The  Gospel  message  brings  God  near,  and  therefore  makes 
Him  great.  His  power  and  majesty  are  evidenced  by  the 
creation  of  the  world,  readily  believed  by  the  heathen  to  be 
an  act  of  God.  Every  heathen  assents  to  this..2  Novel  as 
the  idea  is,  he  likewise  understands  that  God  upholds  and 
governs  the  world  He  created ;  that  He  has  a  living  relation 
to  it  and  to  the  men  who  are  upon  it.  Since  the  speech 
on  the  Areopagus  the  message  of  God,  the  Creator  and 
Governor  of  the  world,  has  been  to  the  heathen  a  Gospel 
removing  the  veil  from  the  unknown  God. 

1  K.  Utschimura,  pp.  17  f. 

-  There  are  two  manifestations  of  God  which  are  immediately  understood — 
His  creation  and  government  of  the  world. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    213 

The  gods  worshipped  by  the  heathen  are  powerless.  The 
demons  have  power,  but  their  powers  are  altogether  hurtful 
to  men  and  have  to  be  opposed  by  magic.  There  is  no 
almightiness  ascribed  to  the  supreme  deity ;  he  cannot  help 
man  in  his  conflict  with  demons ;  he  cannot  raise  him  from 
the  dead ;  against  fate  the  deity  is  powerless.  Hence  the 
message  of  an  Almighty  God  who  can  do  all  things  is  some- 
thing entirely  new  to  the  animistic  heathen.  But  it  is  just 
that  power  of  God  which  impresses  them.  Condescending 
to  their  ignorance,  the  living  God  often  makes  the  heathen 
feel  His  power.  Sick  people  come  to  experience  the  im- 
potence of  their  amulets,  the  uselessness  of  their  sacrifices, 
and  then  the  mighty  help  of  God.  When  a  Niasser  woman, 
seriously  ill,  who  trusted  in  God,  was  healed  as  by  a  miracle, 
the  heathen  declared :  "  She  really  has  a  great  and  strong 
God."1  In  an  epidemic  of  cholera  in  Balige  (Sumatra)  a 
heathen  priest  made  use  of  his  ordinary  sorceries.  But  on 
the  third  evening  he  cried :  "  Take  away  all  I  have  set 
up  here  in  the  village;  make  no  further  attempts  to  drive 
away  the  spirit  of  disease.  This  time  it  will  not  do ;  God  is 
more  powerful."     Then  he  died  and  all  his  family. 

A  Battak  teacher  says  that  one  of  the  reasons  which 
often  have  a  decisive  influence  in  bringing  the  heathen  to 
Christianity  is  their  experience  of  the  impotence  of  heathen 
sanctuaries  and  idols.  He  tells  of  a  heathen,  in  whose 
family  one  case  of  death  was  followed  by  another,  and  the 
science  of  the  priest  was  always  powerless.  The  members 
of  the  family  thereupon  resolved  to  become  Christians. 
Another  case  was  that  of  Christian  elders  who  failed  to 
pay  due  reverence  to  a  sacred  tree,  the  residence  of  the 
spirit  of  an  ancestor  ;  they  even  insulted  it  before  the  eyes 
of  the  terrified  heathen,  who  predicted  that  they  would  be 
smitten  with  illness.  A  whole  month  passed  without  any 
harm  coming  to  them  ;  then  the  heathen  declared  that  they 
were  conquered,  and  came  to  church.  In  Huta  Djulu 
(Sumatra)  a  Christian  elder  cut  down  one  of  those  holy 
trees,  whereupon   the   heathen  exclaimed:    "The  Christian 

1  Any  number  of  further  examples  may  be  found  in  mission  literature. 


214      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

(jlod  is  stronger,  the  Christian  Cod  has  conquered." x     A 

Niasser  family  that  had  been  recently  baptised  was  poisoned, 
and  God  blessed  the  remedy  used  in  such  a  visible  way  as 
to  prove  to  the  heathen  His  power.     A  heathen  in  Nias  was 
compelled  by  poverty  to  omit  the  sacrifice  which  had  to  be 
offered  for  his  child's  welfare  immediately  after   its    birth. 
But  the  child,  against  all   expectations,  throve  splendidly. 
The  father  came  to  the  conclusion  :  "  This  child  proves  to  me 
that  idolatry  is  needless.      I  have  done  nothing  for  my  child 
and  yet  it  lives."    A  Nias  chief  testified  :  "  It  is  six  years  since 
I  ceased  to  worship  idols,  and  yet  God  has  richly  blessed  me 
all  those  years.    This  has  made  it  perfectly  plain  that  we  have 
no    need   of  idols,  and  that  it  would  be  better  if  all  were 
Christians."     In  a  heathen  region  of  Nias  a  certain  Araa 
Dahombowo,  in  the    absence  of  the   missionary,   had   cast 
away  his  idols,  and  justified  his  conduct  to  the  heathen  thus  : 
"  It  is  not  the  missionary  who  cleanses  our  houses  of  idols. 
We  ourselves  do  it  as  soon  as  we  know  the  living  God,  for 
we  are  then  convinced  that  we  do  not  need  them."     He  told 
them  that  his  wife  had  been  seriously  ill,  and  neither  priests 
nor  sacrifices  had  brought  her  any  help.     But  the  medicine 
given   by    the    missionary   healed    her.      The    same    thing 
happened  later  in  the  case  of  his  brother.     When  another 
brother  became  ill  he  entreated  the  missionary  to  pray  to 
his  God,  and  if  help  came,  then  the  missionaries'  God  would 
be   his    God.      The    sick   man    was    restored.      "  Then    we 
considered,  thought  it  well  over,  and  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  God  is  stronger  than  our  idols,  and  that  He  hears  our 
prayers.     Then   I  made  a   first   attempt   and   removed   the 
idols  from  my  house  without  incurring  any  harm.  .  .  .  Thus 
quite  alone,   and  of  our  free  will,   we  have   thrown   away 
our  idols,  and  I  for  one  will  not  return  to  them."     Young 
Christians  and  heathen  experience  the  power  of  the  living 
God,  and  the  experience  convinces  them. 

God,  who  will  not  be  mocked,   makes   them  sometimes 

1  Young  Christians  often  challenge  the  vengeance  of  the  spirits  to  prove  to 
the  heathen  their  impotence,  or  enter  on  proofs  of  power  which  the  heathen 
propose  to  them  in  order  to  establish  whose  god  is  the  stronger. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    215 

experience  His  power  to  punish,  infusing  thereby  a  whole- 
some fear  into  both  heathen  and  Christian,  and  con- 
vincing them  of  Himself.  That  often  took  place  among 
the  Dayaks  in  Borneo.  We  have  had  frequent  experience 
of  it  also  in  Sumatra.  In  Nias,  God  often  visited 
with  punishment  the  undecided  and  those  who  were  open 
enemies.  For  example,  a  malevolent  sorcerer  in  Lahagu 
died   suddenly   together   with    his   family,    a    judgment    of 

God  visible  to  all. 

We  can  easily  understand  that  when  the  heathen  hear  ot 
the    Almighty    God,    they   timidly   test    His   power  before 
definitely  deciding  for   Him.     God  indulges   them  therein,  y 
for   the   prohibition  not   to  tempt   God  was   not  given   to  ( 
those  who  did  not   know  Him.     If  God  could  say  to  His 
people   who    had   known   Him   out   of  a   long   experience, 
"Examine  Me  in  this"  (Mai.  iii.  10),  how  much  more  will 
He  indulge  the  heathen  who  would  fain  know  how  they 
stand   with    Him,    and   give   them    proofs    of    His    unique 
power  when  they  ask  with  a  sincere  desire  for  certainty? 
The    Old    Testament    saints    often    tested    God,   and    He 
answered   them,    although   they    might    have    known    Him 
without  it.     The   real   greatness  of  God   is  shown  in  His 
condescending   to    men.      A   Dayak    heathen    woman    had 
heard   the   missionary   say   that   Christians    asked   God    to 
protect  them,  and  were  then  sure  of  being  protected.     She 
thought:    I  will  put  that  to  the  proof;  if  that  prove  true, 
all   else  must  be  true.     She  set  herself  to  pray  and  found 
herself  delivered  from  her  trouble  of  terrifying  dreams  in 
which    she    had    to    do    with    spectres.      A    chiefs    son 
among   the    Congo    negroes   was    convinced,    in    his    sick- 
ness, °of  the   powerlessness   of  the  fetich   while    help   was 
criven    him    by   the    missionary.      To    put    the    matter    to 
the   proof    he    put    his    idols   out   of    the    house   for   one 
night,    depriving   himself    of    their   protection.       When   no 
harm  resulted  he  took   courage   and   rid   himself  of  them    v 

altogether.  . 

"  We  cannnot  get  rid  of  the  impression  that,  as  in  the 
early   days   of  the   Christian  Church,   so  now   the  Lord  is 


210      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

preparing  the  way  by  signs  and  wonders  for  the  admission 
of  His  Gospel  into  new  regions,  condescending  to  the  child- 
like level  of  childlike  people." 

It  is  in  keeping  with  the  wisdom  of  the  divine  education 
tli at  the  extraordinary  manifestations  of  God's  power  fall 
into  the  background  in  proportion  as  the  heathen  Christians 
and  the  heathen  come  to  know  Him  through  His  word  and 
His  people.  They  have  now  Moses  and  the  prophets,  and 
do  not  need  to  see  one  rising  from  the  dead.  Those  who 
grow  in  the  knowledge  of  God  have  an  inward  experience  of 
Him  which  verifies  the  words  of  Jesus,  "  Thou  wilt  see 
greater  things  than  these." 

The  hearers  of  the  message  of  salvation  become  conscious 
of  the  living  God  first  of  all  through  their  experience  of  His 
power,  and  then,  if  they  go  on  to  learn  of  Him  more  fully, 
through  His  self-manifestation  in  Jesus  Christ,  in  whom  He 
enters  the  human  race.  The  love  of  God  is  not,  as  a  rule, 
the  first  thing  which  the  animistic  heathen  grasp  in  Christ, 
but  the  self-attestation  of  God,  who  becomes  visible  and 
tangible  in  His  Son.  Without  in  any  way  reflecting  on  the 
relations  of  the  Son  to  the  Father,  they  rejoice  in  a  God 
who  became  man  that  He  might  come  near  to  men.  They 
come  to  know  God  in  Jesus.  Before  Jesus  is  the  way,  He 
has  become  to  them  the  manifestation  of  God,  His  projection 
of  Himself  into  human  life  ;  in  Him  the  unknown  God  comes 
forth  from  His  concealment,  and  personal  trust  in  Him 
becomes  possible.  Hence  the  first  overpowering  impression 
of  Jesus  which  heathen  and  heathen  Christians  get  is  of  His 
Divinity.  The  education  of  the  disciples  ended  with  the 
confession  :  "  My  Lord  and  my  God."  The  growth  of  the 
heathen  for  the  most  part  begins  with  this  impression.  It 
is,  therefore,  advisable  to  say  little  at  first  of  Christ  as  the 
Son  ;  it  is  better  to  speak  of  Him  simply  as  God  :  God 
became  Man,  God  suffered  and  died,  etc.  My  own  experi- 
ence on  this  point  has  been  confirmed  by  various  missionaries. 
Jesus  the  self-revelation  of  God— that  is  how  He  appears  to 
the  eye  of  the  susceptible  heathen  and  becomes  to  him  the 
way  into  Christianity.     If  the  heathen  allows   this  Divine 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    217 

Person  to  gain  power  over  him  He  will  more  and  more 
determine  the  course  of  his  inner  life. 

The  heathen,  when  his  will  is  enlisted  in  the  inward 
experience,  forthwith  enters  into  a  personal  relation  with 
the  living,  working  God  brought  nigh  to  him  in  Jesus. 
The  experimental  proof  of  the  Gospel's  truth  is  found  in 
the  reality  and  fruitfulness  of  this  relation  wherein,  of 
course,  he  is  mainly  receptive.  In  all  mission  fields,  and 
especially  among  uncivilised  peoples,  we  see  that  sus- 
ceptible hearers  of  the  message  appropriate  God  with 
directness  and  simplicity,  converse  with  Him  in  a  matter- 
of-course  way,  experience  Him  in  childlike  intercourse, 
speak  to  Him,  pray  to  Him,  and  receive  an  answer.  The 
heathen  deities  are  inaccessible ;  no  one  dreams  of  inter- 
course with  them.  What  a  mighty  proof  of  God's  message 
that  it  sets  up  an  entirely  new  but  real  relation  between 
God  and  man  !  This  new  personal  relation  to  God  finds 
expression  in  childlike,  trustful  faith  and  simple,  confident 
prayer. 

The  faith  of  young  heathen  Christians  has,  as  a  rule, 
a  power  and  freshness  that  puts  us  older  Christians  to 
shame.  God  has  become  to  them  a  living  God  to  whom 
they  commit  everything ;  they  know  of  no  limit  to  His 
power ;  they  rejoice  in  their  filial  standing,  and  point  it 
out  to  the  heathen  as  an  advantage  which  Christians  enjoy. 
The  newly  converted  do  not  doubt  that  God  doeth  wonders. 
Wonderful  deliverances,  great  manifestations  of  grace,  are 
to  them  not  miracles  but  self-evident  expressions  of  the 
might  of  His  Godhead,  not  repara  but  Swa/mei?  (to  the 
heathen  they  are  o-rjjueia).  They  have  no  difficulty  in 
believing  the  Bible  miracles.  Their  confidence  in  the 
power  of  the  mighty  God  is  boundless.  Remember  that 
every  presupposition  for  such  thoughts  about  God,  every 
predisposition  for  a  trustful  demeanour  towards  Him,  is 
entirely  absent  in  animistic  religions.  Here,  at  any  rate, 
there  can  be  no  talk  about  a  development  of  existing  germs. 
The  living  God  is  new  to  them ;  communion  with  Him  is 
new  ;  the  faith  that  appropriates  and  trusts  Him  is  new. 


218      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

This  faith  is  often  touchingly  shown  at  the  deathbeds  of 
heathen  Christians ;  calmly  they  put  themselves  into  the 
hands  of  their  Saviour  and  quietly  pass  through  the  gates 
of  death,  never  doubting  that  they  are  united  with  God. 
This  is  not  hypocrisy  :  how  should  they  on  their  deathbed 
put  on  an  unaccustomed  mask  while  all  other  heathen 
meet  death  stupidly  and  indifferently  ?  It  is  the  certainty 
of  going  to  their  God  which  makes  them  die  calmly, 
often  joyfully.  Their  faith  has  something  of  the  childlike 
character  which  our  Lord  holds  up  as  an  example ;  it 
reflects  not,  speculates  not,  sees  no  difficulties,  but  cheer- 
fully and  joyously  takes  and  thankfully  enjoys  what  is 
offered. 

Christians  in  Sumatra*  and  Nias  have  ventured  to  bid 
the  evil  spirit,  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  go  out  of  the  possessed  ; 
they  felt,  as  a  matter  of  course,  that  the  demon  had  left 
the  poor  man  ;  and  when  he  had  gone  they  made  no  fuss 
about  the  matter  ;  we  only  heard  of  it  occasionally.  They 
are  perfectly  sure  that  the  strong  Jesus  will  settle  with  His 
enemies.1  Bravery  is  not  among  the  virtues  of  the  Battaks, 
but  faith  in  their  mighty  God  has  often  given  the  evan- 
gelists and  elders  in  their  missionary  journeys  an  astonishing 
courage  in  great  dangers.  One  of  the  greatest  sorrows  to 
an  Indonesian  is  when  his  child  dies,  above  all  if  he  be 
an  only  son.  Faith  in  God  has  given  to  many  Christians 
comfort  and  support  in  such  a  sorrow ;  their  childlike 
relation  to  God  made  them  strong.      So  we  find    heathen 

1  A  TCattak  teacher  was  summoned  to  a  sick  Christian  woman  upon  whom 
au  evil  spirit  was  supposed  to  have  come.  She  desired  a  sacrifice,  which 
the  teacher  forbade.  The  woman  thereupon  fell  into  a  rage  and  the  spirit 
threatened  to  kill  both  her  and  the  teacher.  The  teacher  answered  :  "  You 
cannot ;  you  have  no  power  over  me,  for  I  and  all  here  present  belong  to 
Christ."  The  teacher  and  his  scholars  then  sang  a  Christian  hymn.  While 
they  were  singing,  the  woman  cried  :  "  My  brother,  will  you  not  give  me 
what  I  ask  that  1  may  depart  ?  I  cannot  endure  this,  I  am  afraid."  The 
teacher  replied  :  "Yes,  depart."  The  woman  then  sprang  up,  rushed  round 
the  house,  and  cried  :  "  I  am  going,  for  I  am  afraid."  The  teacher  related 
the  story  in  Matthew  viii.  28-34,  declaring  that  the  Lord  Jesus  has  still 
power  over  evil  spirits,  and  prayed  with  those  present.  The  woman  was 
healed,  with  the  result  that  a  great  number  were  led  to  come  to  the  church. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    219 

committing  all  to  Him  even  when  they  know  little  about 
Him.1 

Certainty  of  victory  is  one  of  the  expressions  of  their 
firm  childlike  faith.  No  earnest  heathen  Christian  among 
the  Battaks  and  Niassers  doubts  that  the  Gospel  will 
conquer  all  his  people.  In  Sifaoroasi  (Nias)  the  first 
twenty-four  candidates  for  baptism  had  very  much  to  suffer 
from  the  hostility  of  heathenism,  but  they  were  certain  of 
victory;  they  called  themselves  the  "seed  of  the  kingdom 
of  God  for  Sifaoroasi,  meaning  that  all  their  fellow-country- 
men, who  then  had  no  desire  to  know  anything  of  the  new 
custom,  would  assuredly  by-and-by  become  Christians  like 
themselves.  This  belief  in  the  world-conquering  power  of 
the  Gospel  makes  all  truly  converted  heathen  to  become 
eager  mission  workers  as  will  be  shown  later.  Suffering  and 
persecution  cannot  disturb  them  in  this  belief.  The  things 
they  have  experienced  have  given  them  a  glimpse  of  the 
power  of  God  and  taught  them  to  estimate  differently  the 
sufferings  of  this  present  time. 

A  surprising  joy ousness  in  prayer  goes  hand  in  hand  with 
this  lively  faith.  The  heathen  who  has  entered  into  a 
personal  relation  with  God  must  needs  tell  Him  everything 
that  moves  him.  In  their  heathenism  they  were  ignorant  of 
what  prayer  means  ;  they  had  no  conception  of  a  prayer  to 
God  springing  out  of  the  pressure  of  need  or  of  the  grateful 
gladness  of  the  heart.  But,  become  Christians,  they  pray 
almost  without  any  teaching;  they  speak  to  God  in  the 
simplest  manner  ;  they  lay  before  Him  their  cares  great  and 
little.  They  have  an  instinctive  sense  of  the  need  to  pray  in 
every  unusual  situation  of  life  or  movement  of  the  heart. 
Their  prayers  are  talks  with  God,  often  of  the  most  touching 
childlikeness.  Whence  comes  this  impulse  to  prayer  and  this 
art  of  prayer  if  it  is  not  prompted  and  sustained  by  a  new 

1  Missionary  Bassfeld  (Nias)  tells  of  a  heathen  in  Bawalia  who  adhered  to 
God's  word.  He  was  bitten  by  a  poisonous  serpent.  At  once  he  prayed  : 
"  God  in  heaven,  Thou  art  eternal  and  almighty  ;  lo,  a  serpent  has  bitten 
me,  but  if  Thou  wilt  Thou  canst  make  the  bite  harmless,  and  therefore  I 
pray  Thee  help  me."     The  pain  soon  ceased. 


220      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

and  real  relation  to  God,  the  natural  manifestation  of  which 
is  prayer  ? 

These  two  features  of  heathen  Christian  life,  simple  faith 
and  inward  prayer,  are  confirmed  by  the  experience  of  nearly 
all  mission  fields.  The  childlike  faith  and  believing  prayers 
of  the  Battak  Christians  often  put  us  to  shame,  especially  of 
those  who  have  consciously  passed  over  from  heathenism  to 
Christianity.1  In  the  second  generation  the  relation  to  God 
becomes  less  immediate.  It  is  said  of  the  Niassers :  "  The 
young  Christians  of  Nias  put  a  great  value  on  prayer.  We 
are  constantly  being  asked  to  pray  with  and  for  their  sick, 
and  they  often  tell  of  almost  instantaneous  answers  to  their 
childlike  prayers." 2  "  Moreover,  it  is  very  gratifying  to  find 
that  young  Christians  so  quickly  get  accustomed  to  pray  to 
the  living  God.  They  turn  to  Him  in  childlike  faith  in 
every  situation,  representing  to  Him  that  they  have  now  no 
other  God,  and  therefore  He  must  help,  and  are  then  cer- 
tain that  their  prayer  has  been  heard.  In  our  visitation  of 
their  sick  we  are  often  asked  to  pray  with  and  for  the 
sufferers. 

1  In  Huta  Djulu,  a  mountainous  region  of  Sumatra,  Christians  give 
numerous  examples  of  how  God  answered  their  prayers  and  how  many 
heathen  were  thereby  brought  over  to  the  Church.  A  heathen  whose  son 
was  sick  unto  death  promised  to  become  a  Christian  if  God  would  answer 
their  prayers  on  his  behalf.  Thereupon  a  Christian  chief  prayed:  "Lord, 
Thou  hast  heard  our  covenant ;  do  not  put  us  to  shame,  have  mercy  on  us,  and 
heal  this  sick  one  that  my  comrades  may  see  that  Thou  art  God  and  nearest 
prayer,  that  they  also  may  know  Thee  and  love  Thee  and  cease  betaking 
themselves  to  dead  idols."  The  boy  was  restored  and  the  family  passed  over 
to  Christianity. 

sSundermann,  "Nias,"  144.  He  tells  of  a  prayer  which  a  heathen 
offered  shortly  before  his  baptism.  This  man  Siwalmmola  had  been  one  of 
the  most  notorious  robbers  and  headdiunters,  and  had  many  a  murder  on  his 
conscience.  He  prayed  as  follows  :— "  0  thou  great  God,  who  art  gracious 
to  us,  who  art  our  Father,  we  come  to  Thee  in  prayer.  We  thank  Thee  for 
Thy  goodness  to  us,  for  the  help  Thou  hast  given  us  evil  and  wicked 
Niassers,  who  are  as  nothing  before  Thee,  and  who  have  benighted  hearts. 
We  thank  Thee  that  Thou  hast  sent  us  the  missionary  to  instruct  us  in  the 
good  doctrine.  We  can  now  be  baptised  and  become  real  Christians.  Help 
us,  forgive  us  all  our  sins,  and  teach  us  to  keep  Thy  commandments.  When 
the  devil  comes  to  tempt  us,  help  us  to  overcome  him,  and  take  us  all  as 
members  of  Thy  household  into  Thy  beautiful  heaven  "  (p.  179). 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    221 

The  reports  of  the  Nias  Mission  have  much  to  say  of  the 
life  of  fervent  prayer.  A  heathen  chief  was  seriously  ill  and 
had  lost  all  speech  and  hearing.  Solago,  a  young  Christian, 
visits  him,  "  that  the  people  of  Ojo  may  see  that  our  God  is 
almighty."  He  prays  with  the  sick  man  :  "  Great  Almighty 
God,  Thou  knowest  why  we  are  here  ;  make  this  man  well 
and  show  Thy  power  and  might  to  the  people  that  they  also 
may  follow  Thee."  Immediately  the  sick  man  could  hear 
and  speak.  Medicine  was  then  given  him  by  the  missionary 
Krumm,  and  he  became  quite  well,  and,  with  sixty  of  his 
people,  threw  away  their  idols.  Ama  Gahonoa,  the  first- 
fruits  of  the  West  Coast,  was  zealous  in  prayer  from  the 
first  moment  of  his  conversion.  His  prayer  was  a  talk  with 
the  heavenly  Father.  His  prayers  for  the  sick  were  often 
followed  by  surprising  results.  The  following  story  indicates 
his  relation  to  God :  Called  in  to  a  case  of  serious  illness,  he 
prayed  for  the  restoration  of  the  patient,  but  his  prayer  was 
in  vain.  He  prayed  again,  but  with  no  success.  This 
occasioned  him  serious  thoughts.  During  the  night  he  was 
troubled  by  the  fact  that  his  prayer  on  this  occasion  was 
not  heard;  then  he  dreamed  that  the  parents  of  the  child 
kept  in  concealment  ancestor  idols,  and  that  his  prayer  was 
thereby  hindered.  The  day  had  scarcely  dawned  when  he 
ran  to  the  parents  and  demanded  of  them,  "  Where  are  the 
idols  you  have  hidden  ?  out  with  them  !  They  make  my 
prayer  of  no  effect."  Terrified,  the  people  produced  the 
idols ;  after  they  were  removed  he  prayed  again  and  in  a 
short  time  the  child  was  well.  At  a  later  period,  when  the 
growing  Christian  community  had  become  a  living  proof  of 
the  divine  truth,  the  striking  signs  fell  more  into  the  back- 
ground, a  fact  which  Ama  Gahonoa  found  to  be  quite  usual. 

Jellinghaus  testifies  of  the  Kols  :  "  In  their  heathen  state 
they  were  bound  fast  in  the  fear  of  demons ;  now  they 
betook  themselves  to  prayer  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  the 
conqueror  of  sin  and  the  devil,  as  a  weapon  against  all 
assaults  of  the  demons."  The  Christian  Kols  are  absolutely 
certain  that  the  Lord  Jesus  hears  prayer,  and  that  all  evil 
spirits  must  give  way  to  prayer  in  His  name,  and  stories 


222      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

may  be  heard  in  almost  every  Christian  village  of  how 
prayer  has  brought  help  in  sickness,  in  serpents'  bites, 
etc.,  when  all  medicine  and  all  sorcerv  was  in  vain."  "Their 
religious  life  is  distinguished  above  all  by  a  glad  childlike 
trust,  their  thought  and  feeling  turns  towards  God  with 
a  simplicity  which  proves  that  the  childlike  heart  is 
nearest  to  the  Gospel."  Nottrott  also  speaks  highly  of  the 
power  of  prayer  among  the  Christian  Kols ;  heathen  often 
come  to  Christians  and  ask  for  their  prayers.  Riedcl,  the 
blessed  Apostle  of  Minahassa,  says  that  he  is  often 
astonished  at  the  power  of  prayer  displayed  by  the  Christian 
Alfurus.  "  I  believe  that  many  a  European  youth  would 
be  ashamed  if  he  were  to  see  and  hear  the  gift  of  prayer 
displayed  by  these  youths  recently  converted  from  heathen- 
ism." A  European  who  visited  Ternate  was  deeply 
impressed  by  the  prayers  of  the  young  Christians.  Bellon, 
the  missionary  at  Abetifi  on  the  Gold  Coast,  says:  "Any 
one  taking  part  in  our  prayer-meetings  would  have  his 
heart  uplifted  by  hearing  the  childlike  way  in  which  the 
Christians  pray.  There  is  nothing  artificial  or  sentimental 
about  them.  They  really  believe  in  the  power  of  prayer." 
The  Japanese,  Utschimura,  and  his  fellow-students  had  no 
sooner  turned  to  God  than  they  began  to  pray. 

In  every  missionary  record  we  have  testimonies  to  the 
fervent  prayers  of  the  young  heathen  Christians.  It  is  to 
them  a  natural,  almost  an  involuntary  manifestation  of 
their  new  relation  to  God.  They  have  passed  from  death 
to  life,  from  estrangement  to  communion  with  God 
(/u.€Ta.(3efir)Kev  e/c  tov  Oavdrov  et?  tv/v  £o»'jv,  John  v.  24  ; 
ri/neis  o'lSa/ULev,  oti  /uera/8fc/3)//ca/uei'  e/c  TOV  uavOLTOV  ei$  Trjv 
fat'iv,  1  John  iii.  14).  They  were  dead  because  they  were 
separated  from  God ;  now  they  have  found  God  and  live. 
The  new  life  in  and  through  God  is  the  first  great  funda- 
mental gift  of  the  Gospel  to  the  starving  soul  of  the 
heathen.  The  gift  is  God  Himself.  That  gift  has  power  to 
dethrone  all  idolatry  and  make  the  heathen  new  religious  men. 

Moral  obedience  in  the  service  of  the  true  God,  the 
obligation  closely  connected   with  this  great  gift,  falls,   as 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    223 

we  can  understand,  into  the  background.     The  gift  is   so 
overwhelmingly  new  and   great,  so    obviously  a   gift,  that 
its   bearing   upon   conduct   can   only  gradually  enter   their 
consciousness.     God  offers  Himself  to  the  heathen  in  the 
Gospel   as   a   personal   friend;    He  comes  to  them  as  the 
giving  One.     That  melts  the  ice  round  the  heathen  heart. 
This  is  of  the  very  essence  of  the  Gospel,  that  it  is  a  gift, 
the   offer    of  Himself  of  a   good,  gracious,   compassionate 
God.     Hence  life  is  called  a  gift  (Rom.  vi.  23);  to  have 
tasted  of  the  heavenly  gift  (Heb.  vi.  4)  means  to  have  found 
God;  Paul  thanks  God  for  His  unspeakable  gift  (2  Cor. 
ix.   15).     According  to  the  New  Testament  the  Gospel  is 
a  gift   of  grace,    Scoped   X«P'^«-      The   Gospel   shows   its 
power  in  this  way  among  the  heathen;   it  gives  them  the 
true,  great,   good  God;   they   are   born    again   into  a  new 
life.     The  intellectual  and  the  moral  consequences  of  the 
gift  will  follow,  for  it  contains  a  number  of  new  motives 
and  powers  which  cannot  but  unfold  themselves.     But  the 
gift  of  God  Himself  must  come  first,  the  means  of  giving 
life  to  those  estranged  from  Him.     The   consciousness  of 
the  receiver  is  at  first  entirely  occupied  with  the  boon  he 
has   received,    and   only   gradually   awakens   to   the   corre- 
sponding  obligation.     Heathen   Christians,    therefore,    from 
the   first   days    of    their   conversion,    exhibit   a   marvellous 
degree   of  childlike   trust  and  strong  faith  in  God,  while 
their   moral   conduct   is    startlingly    out    of    keeping   with 
their  genuine  religious  life.      The  heathen  Christian  com- 
munities of  the  Apostolic  age  had  a  similar  experience,  an 
experience    repeated    to-day   in    every   mission    field   with 
the  regularity  of  a  law  of  nature.     This  period  of  incipient 
Christian  life  is  a  kind  of  spring-time  when  we  need  not 
look  for  fruit.     Spring  also  promises  more  than  it  performs ; 
for   many   of   its   blossoms   foil   without   ever   setting   into 
fruit.     But  yet  it  is  the  fairest  time  of  the  year.1 

1  Jellinghaus  calls  it  the  infant  weakness  of  the  Kols  Christians  that, 
notwithstanding  the  gemiineness  of  their  faith,  they  have  little  sense  of  sin 
("  Die  Kols,"  p.  348).  This  is  just  the  infant  weakness  of  all  young  heathen 
Christians. 


224      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

We  have  now  to  consider  the  question  :  How  does  this 
living  picture  of  God  arise  in  the  mind   of  the  heathen  ? 
What   kind   of  preaching   must   the  missionary  employ  to 
set  God's  might  and  majesty  before  the  dulled  eyes  of  the 
heathen  ?     It  will  not  be  done  by  intellectual  instruction  ; 
the  missionary  will   get    no   audience  for   learned   lectures     ^ 
about   God.      Life   is   not   begotten   by   enlightenment ;  ^it     f 
passes  from  person  to  person,  from  God  to  man,  by  living     - 
contact.     The  sole  function  of  preaching  is  to  mediate  a 
personal  acquaintance  with  God.     That  is  done  by  depicting 
the  deeds  of  the  living  God  before  the  eyes  of  the  heathen. 
Persons  are  made  known  by  their  acts.     Mission  preaching 
proclaims  the  deeds  of  God ;  it  explains  nothing  at  first, 
expounds  nothing ;  it  simply  narrates  what  God  has  done. 
The   heathen   thereby   gets   to   know   God.      He   does   not 
ask  who  God  is,   but  what  He  does  and  can  do.     How 
did  the  Apostles  preach  to  the  heathen?     We  know  very 
little  on  the  subject,  but  this  much  is  certain,  that  Peter 
as  well  as  Paul  proclaimed  to  them  tu  /ueyaXem  too  Oeou 
(the  mighty  works  of  God).     Paul  recapitulates  in  1  Cor.  xv. 
the  fundamental  contents  of  his  preaching  to  the  heathen ; 
Christ  died  for  our  sins,  was  buried,  was  raised  the  third 
day,  and  appeared  several  times  to  His  own.     Paul  always 
uses  the  word  Gospel  in  the  sense   of  a  proclamation  of 
the   deeds   of   God.      He   does   not   tell   his   hearers   who 
and  how  God  is,  but  what  He  has  done  for  them  :  that 
He  created  them,  patiently  bore  with  them,  sent  His  Son 
to  save  them,  that  this  Son  died,  rose  again,  and  will  return 
to  judgment.     The  effect  of  the  message  on  the  hearts  of 
the  hearers  he  left  to  its  own  inherent  power.     Words  of 
wisdom  and  enticement  he  expressly  repudiates  (1  Cor.  i.  17; 
ii.   4).      Reasoned   explanations   are   given    later,   but  only 
to   the    Christian   community   which    has    already   got   life 
from  the  God  of  salvation.     Believers  have  obtained  life 
by  a  recognition  of  the  facts  which  constitute  the  Gospel, 
not  by  comprehending  them  or  abstracting  the  ideas  under- 
lying them.    Christian  thought  is  subsequently  built  on  these 
deeds  of  God.     The  deed  stands  above  the  thought. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    225 

The  missionary  of  to-day  can  go  no  otherwise  to  work  ; 
he  goes  among  the  heathen  as  a  herald  and  proclaims  to 
them  the  things  God  has  done,  is  doing,  and  will  do.  He 
waits  on  the  result.  At  first  he  is  compelled  by  his  defective 
knowledge  of  the  language  and  of  the  mental  life  of  the 
people  to  adopt  a  simple  method  of  story  telling.1  He  is 
forced  to  confine  himself  to  telling  Bible  stories  from  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  waiting  perhaps  impatiently  for  the 
time  when  he  will  be  able  to  vanquish  heathenism  by  an 
exposition  of  the  deep  thoughts  of  the  Christian  religion. 
The  language  of  a  primitive  people  presents  fewest 
difficulties  to  the  narrative  form  of  address ;  a  very  simple 
man  can  understand  a  story.  And,  lo,  the  teller  of  Bible 
stories  discovers  that  a  new  religious  world  is  dawning  upon 
the  heathen  through  the  simple  narration  of  what  God  has 
done  for  men ;  that  these  stories  are  better  fitted  than  any 
well  thought  -  out  address  for  making  blinded  idolaters 
acquainted  with  the  living  God;  that  the  simple  telling  of 
what  God  has  done  in  the  course  of  human  history  makes 
His  image  plastic  to  them  and  Himself,  no  longer  a  bloodless 
idea,  but  an  acting,  thinking,  feeling  person.  The  stories  of  the 
Bible  are  everywhere  listened  to  with  pleasure.  The  heathen 
are  keenly  interested  in  them,  and  get  from  them  a  clear 
conception  of  what  the  new  religion  desires  and  gives.  It 
is  the  Bible  stories  that  transform  the  religious  thought  of 
the  Animist. 

We  are  told  of  the  people  of  Nias  that  the  Bible  stories 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  always  made  the  deepest 
impression,  and  imparted  a  knowledge  of  God.  Sometimes 
the  story  of  Abraham,  sometimes  that  of  Jacob,  reflects  their 
own  experience.     Merensky  says  that  his  preaching  to  the 

1  Dr  Adriani  repels  the  reproach  about  missionaries  carrying  to  the  natives 
dry  unintelligible  dogmas.  "  In  using  the  language  of  the  country  are  they 
not  compelled  to  limit  themselves  to  what  can  be  spoken  in  that  language  ? 
Does  not  the  fact  that  mission  work  employs  the  language  of  the  country 
prove  that  it  is  willing  to  hamper  itself,  that  it  has  no  wish  to  say  anything 
that  cannot  be  said  in  the  language  of  the  people,  that  it  does  not  attempt 
to  philosophise  in  its  own  trains  of  thought,  but  confines  itself  to  those  that 
prevail  in  the  speech  of  the  country. 
P 


226      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

Basutos    was   essentially   a   proclamation  of  Bible   history. 
"The  flood  and  the  story  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  always 
made   an   extraordinary   impression    as   examples   of   God's 
penal  righteousness."     It  was  the  same  with  the  stories  of 
the  patriarchs,  of  Joseph's  fate,  and  finally  the  story  of  the 
Saviour.     Jellinghaus  had  the  same  experience  among  the 
Kols  :  "  The  simple  biblical  Gospel  ...  fits  into  the  hearts 
of  the  children  and  adults  of  this  primitive  people  as  a  screw 
fits  into  the  nut." — "  They  grasped  with  a  childlike  vividness 
the  stories  of  creation,  the  fall,  Jesus'  birth,  His  miracles, 
and  especially  His  sufferings."     It  is  said  of  the  negroes  of 
Suriname :    "  There  are  few  on   whom    the  picture  of  the 
crucified    Christ    does    not    make    a    more    than    passing 
impression,  and  many  are  deeply  affected  by  it."     Stosch  is 
of  opinion  that  "  it  is  not  the  theology  of  experience  in  any 
of  its  modifications,  but  a  theology  of  facts  dominated  by  the 
idea  of  revelation  that  is  capable  of  healing  the  truthless 
heathen  world  and  satisfying  it  with  truth." — "The  fact  that 
Christianity,  proclaimed  on  a  biblical  foundation,  reveals  itself 
as  truth  and  verifies  itself  as  revelation  in  its  preparatory 
motives  as  well  as  in  the  central  fact  of  reconciliation  by 
Christ,  is  the  basis  of  all  success  in  missions."      Speaking 
about  preaching  to  the  heathen  in  India,  Hesse  says :  "  We 
do  not  preach  this  or  that  profound  and  interesting  doctrine 
of  Christianity  or  any  such  thing  as  theology  and  philosophy  ; 
India   has  more   than  enough   of  profound  and  interesting 
doctrines  of  theology  and  philosophy  ;  we  proclaim  the  great 
facts  of  the  life,  sufferings,  death  and  resurrection  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  the  historical  incarnate  Saviour  of  sinners.     What 
the  Indian  religions  chiefly  lack  is  facts  and  personalities." 
The  foreign  missionary  lays  the  foundation   by  telling  the 
history    of  Jesus.      Bohner   in   West  Africa  had  the  same 
experience  in  preaching  to  the  heathen.     Dahle  in  one  of 
his  reports  strongly  urges  that  the  first  presentation  of  the 
Gospel   to   heathen  should  always  take  the  form  of  Bible 
stories,  especially  the  story  of  the  life  and  sufferings  of  the 
Saviour.     The  missionaries,  Ostermeyer  and  Spieth,  who  took 
part  in  the  discussion  that  followed,  were  of  the  same  opinion  ; 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    227 

one  of  the  special  excellences  of  the  Gospel,  they  declared,  is 
that  it  is  not  doctrine  but  history.     Their   experience  was 
that  the  story  of  the  passion  and  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ 
hardly  ever  failed  to  make  a  deep  impression  on  the  heathen. 
The  Bible  stories  reveal  God  to  the  heathen  as  a  God  of 
deeds.     The  inference  they  draw  is  that  such  a  God  will 
perform  works  of  power  and  love  among  them  also.     The 
divine  revelation  is  made  to  men,  however,  in  a  succession  of 
divine   dealings,  in  which   God   makes  Himself  known   by 
progressive  stages  that  men  may  be  gradually  prepared  for 
His  greatest  and  final  act  of  revelation,  viz.,  the  redemption 
by  Jesus  Christ.     Accordingly  we  need  not  be  surprised  that 
the  animistic  heathen,  on  a  lower  stage  of  human  develop- 
ment, are  best  able  to  grasp  and  digest  the  divine  revelation 
in  the  deeds  of  God  recorded   in  the  Old  Testament  and 
reflected    in    the    histories    of  men   whom    He    led.     The 
missionaries  in  Sumatra,   Nias,  Borneo,  New  Guinea,  have 
experienced  and  still  experience  that  the  stories  of  the  Old 
Testament  exercise  a  great  power  over  heathen  hearts.     The 
narratives    of  the   creation   of  the   world   and   of  man,  of 
paradise,  the  fall,  the  flood,  the  confusion  of  languages,  of 
the  patriarchs,  Moses,  and  the  giving  of  the  law,  of  Israel's 
journey  through  the  wilderness,  the  stories  of  Samuel,  David 
and  Solomon,  are  all  listened  to  with  keen  interest,  and  are 
cherished.     How  full  of  life,  how  plastic,  do  these  pictures  of 
the  old  men  of  God  stand  out  before  the  eyes  of  the  heathen  ! 
Abraham,  Moses,  David,  become  popular  figures  among  heathen 
and  heathen  Christians  ;  they  are  the  best  allies  in  the  conflict 
with  heathenism,  the  most  convincing  teachers  of  the  true 
God,  enabling  them  to  see  God  in  His  intercourse  with  men, 
to  see  Him  as  it  were  at  work.     The  judgments  of  God  in  the 
expulsion   from  paradise,  the   flood,   the  dispersion   of  the 
nations,  in  the  fate  of  Israel,  give  the  heathen  a  knowledge 
of  God  as  the  avenger  of  evil.     They  beget  faith  in  a  righteous 
retribution,    and   in    the   curse   of  sin.     The   self-righteous 
Animist  could  never  be  made  to  understand  what  sin,  dis- 
obedience, faith,  love,  humility,  meekness,  energy,  are,  in  any 
doctrinal  way ;  in  the    Old  Testament   pictures  moral  and 


228      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

religious  values  stand  before  them  in  a  language  understood 
all  the  world  over.     Primitive  man  would  turn  away  from 
didactic  lectures,  but  he  cannot  get  away  from  these  stories. 
They    depict   God's    Almightiness,    His    omnipresence,    His 
wisdom,  righteousness,  patience,  long-suffering,  love,  without 
any  need  of  formulating  concepts.     Even  though  the  Word 
is  not  in  their  language,  the  hearers  understand  the  thing. 
The  hearer  of  the  Old  Testament  stories  learns  how  God  must 
be  feared  ;  he  learns  also  how  He  should  be  loved  and  trusted. 
The  inward  experience  of  these  facts  must  overthrow  his 
animistic  system,  and  produce  a  dim  sense  of  man's  freedom 
and  responsibility.     Thus  by  means  of  these  stories  there 
rises  imperceptibly  a  new  world  of  moral  and  religious  ideas. 
Bible  history  puts   into  the  hands   of  the  hearers   a   sure 
standard   which    is    used   to    correct   all   former    relations. 
Without  criticising   the   horrors   and    moral   carelessness  of 
heathen  life,  the  missionary  will  implant  an  aversion  to  them 
by  these  stories.     Heathen  who  have  been  moved  by  a  Bible 
story  will  often  say  :  "  We  are  very  bad,"  a  confession  which 
could  not  be  wrung  from  them  by  any  disputation.     God's 
majesty   and    merciful    condescension    are    contrasted   with 
their  own  wretchedness  in  such  a  peaceful,  winning  way,  that 
even  hardened  heathen  are  convinced.     The  religious  trans- 
formation of  those  who  do  not  close  their  hearts  against  the 
light  is  begun  under  the  training  iniluence  of  history,  which 
depicts  with   equal  impartiality  God's  greatness  and    man's 
sin.     The  story  of  salvation  brings  God  into  their  life ;  their 
dim  eye  learns  to  see  Him   as   His    nature  is  progressively 
revealed  ;  they  timidly  attempt   to  put  His   power  to  the 
proof ;  they   begin  to  fear  Him  and  to  trust  Him.     God's 
power  as  shown    in   the  Bible   stories   leads   to  their  own 
experience  of  the  mighty  God,  and  proves  that  there  is  more 
there  than  narratives  from  the  past  life  of  a  foreign  people  ;  life 
issues  from  these  stories.     They  very  soon  endeavour  to  get 
familiar  with  them,  and    apply  the  new  standards  to  their 
own    life.1      The   Old    Testament   stories    are    therefore   of 

1  A  Shambala,  who  heard  the  story  of  Abraham,  said  :   "That  is  not  an  old 
world  story,  but  a   story  of  the   present  day.     I  am   Abraham.   .   .   .   Like 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    229 

the  utmost  importance  for  the  Christianising  of  a  heathen 
people.1 

Of  course  the  missionary  will  not  be  content  with  preaching 
the  Old  Testament  story  of  salvation.  Its  educative  import- 
ance will  not  induce  him  to  take  the  material  of  his  preaching 
exclusively  from  the  preparatory  revelation,  for  he  feels  bound 
to  offer  the  heathen  a  full  salvation.  That  impels  him  to 
lead  them  into  the  holiest  of  all.2  The  New  Testament 
reports  the  greatest  of  all  God's  revealing  acts,  His  incarna- 
tion. This  completes  and  deepens  the  picture  of  Him  as  the 
Righteous,  Holy,  Merciful  One,  which  the  heathen  have 
already  obtained  from  the  Old  Testament  history.  The 
absolute  condescension  of  God  to  impoverished  men  mani- 
fested in  His  incarnation  must  speak  more  convincingly  than 
all  to  the  human  heart.     The  question  need  not  be  decided 

Abraham,  I  shall  go  to-morrow  morning  to  my  kindred,  and  tell  them  that  I 
will  no  longer  follow  the  old  religion  with  them,  and  on  Sunday  I  will  come 
forward  for  baptism  "  (Dining,  "  Morgendammerung,"  p.  108).  The  history  of 
the  fall  made  a  lasting  impression  on  a  magician  {idem,  p.  122).  The  story 
of  Noah  deeply  impressed  many  in  Ovambaland  ("  Berichte  der  Ehein. 
Miss.,"  1897,  p.  342). 

1  It  is  characteristic  of  Japanese  Christianity  that  it  has  neither  interest 
in  nor  understanding  of  the  preparatory  revelation  of  the  Old  ..Testament. 
"The  development  is  likely  to  set  in  here,  and  a  Confucian  Buddhistic  basis 
be  given  to  Christianity  instead  of  the  Old  Testament.  That  has  already 
been  attempted  by  some  Japanese  Christians,  some  of  them  preachers."  In 
heathen  missions  we  cannot  with  impunity  neglect  the  Old  Testament 
revelation. 

2  The  question  has  been  constantly  ventilated  in  mission  practice  and 
theory,  whether  it  is  advisable  to  train  the  heathen  for  a  long  time  in  the 
Old  Testament  before  making  them  acquainted  with  the  revelation  of  God  in 
Jesus  Christ?  If  the  people  of  God  needed  such  a  long  preparation  before 
the  revelation  in  Christ  could  be  offered  them,  is  it  wise  to  place  the  heathen 
estranged  from  God  at  once  in  the  very  centre  of  the  message  of  salvation  ? 
In  spite  of  all  that  can  be  said  for  this,  no  missionary  will  be  willing  to 
withhold  Christ  from  the  heathen  for  any  length  of  time.  We  shall  deal 
with  this  question  in  the  course  of  our  discussion,  and  it  will  be  shown  that 
in  more  than  one  sense  Jesus  finds  His  way  into  the  heathen  heart.  Hence 
Zahn  says  :  "The  messenger  of  God  is  to  bring  a  glad  message  to  the  heathen, 
whether  he  should  begin  with  this  joyful  tone  depends  on  circumstances. 
But  he  should  never  forget  that  he  has  something  joyful  and  beneficent  to 
impart  to  the  heathen.  John  the  Baptist  and  Jesus  Himself  began  their 
preaching  with  the  call  to  repent,  but  that  was  not  addressed  to  heathen, 
but  to  Jews,  to  a  people  who  had  been  trained  in  religion  for  centuries." 


230      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

what  stories  of  the  Old  or  New  Testaments  make  the  first 
and  most  effective  impression  on  heathen  hearts.  They  work 
together  as  members  of  one  revelation.  The  order  of  rank  will 
differ  among  different  peoples  and  individuals.  The  picture  of 
Jesus  has  often  a  wonderful  power  over  heathen  who  have 
been  somewhat  prepared  beforehand.  Jesus'  miracles,  and 
especially  His  sufferings  and  death  reveal  to  them  with 
striking  clearness  the  nature  of  God,  the  merciful  Redeemer, 
and  bring  Him  so  near  them  that  they  can  venture  to  trust 
Him.1  It  is  less  the  love  of  God  than  His  self- revelation, 
His  incarnation,  the  clear  manifestation  of  the  Divine  efforts 
for  lost  men,  that  makes  the  person  of  Christ  attractive  to 
these  animistic  heathen.  The  omnipotent  and  good  God 
who  communicates  Himself  to  men  speaks  to  them  in  Jesus 
more  impressively  than  in  the  Old  Testament. 

In  the  Papuan  schools  the  children  listen  eagerly  to  stories 
of  the  sufferings  of  Jesus.  Some  of  them  ask  the  missionary 
to  speak  of  Jesus  every  morning,  and  pass  over  all  else. 
When  the  missionary  Helmich  spoke  to  the  Papuans  about 
sin  and  forgiveness,  he  got  little  attention,  but  they  gave 
more  heed  when  he  spoke  of  God's  deeds,  of  Jesus'  resurrec- 
tion, His  second  coming,  and  the  judgment  of  the  world. 
They  were  visibly  affected  by  the  story  of  the  raising  of 
Lazarus,  and  the  men  cried  to  the  women  :  "  Do  you  hear 
that  ?  the  Lord  Jesus  called  to  him  who  had  lain  in  the  grave 
four  days,  and  he  immediately  arose."  They  often  repeat 
to  themselves  the  details  of  the  story.  Van  Hasselt  also 
preached  with  success  to  the  Papuans  in  the  form  of  Bible 
stories,  especially  stories  from  the  life  of  Jesus.  A  young 
candidate  for  baptism  in  Parparean  (Sumatra)  wept  on 
hearing  the  story  of  the  passion.  The  picture  of  the  Crucified 
made  a  deep  impression  on  the  savage  heathen  Iraona  Huna. 
The  story  of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus  powerfully  affected 
heathen  in  Batu  Mamak  (Sumatra),  and  they  talked  about 
it  till  far  on  in  the  night.     The  missionary  pilgrim,  speaking 

1  Zinzendorf  urged  his  messengers :  "Tell  thern  historically  (there  is  life 
in  it)  that  Jesus  Christ,  very  God,  horn  of  the  Father  in  eternity,  and  very 
man  horn  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  is  my  Lord,"  etc. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    231 

of  his  early  work  among  the  heathen  in  Toba,  says :  "  I  was 
often  surprised  at  the  quickness  with  which  even  old  men  and 
women  could  pick  up  and  accurately  repeat  Bible  stories." 

Mission  records  are  full  of  examples  of  the  effect  which 
the  message  of  the  incarnation  has  upon  the  heathen.     They 
do   not  seek  any  explanation  of  the  death   of  Jesus :    the 
question  as  to  the  bearing  of  His  sufferings  and  death  on 
man's  salvation  occupies  them  only  at  a  later  stage.     But 
His  person  grips  them,  and  is  a  revelation  of  God  to  them. 
It  is  not  the  human  greatness  and  nobility  of  Jesus  that  tell 
upon  the  heathen,  the  moral  presuppositions  for  that  are 
wanting :  Jesus  to  them  is  worthy  of  consideration,  because 
in  Him  they  see  the  great  God  coming  down  into  the  world 
of  men.     The  effect  of  mission  preaching  on  heathen  hearts 
is  an  exposition  of  Jesus'  own  testimony  to  Himself:  he  that 
seeth  Me  seeth  the  Father.     The  Son  of  Man  becomes  to 
them  the  way  to  the  unknown  God  the  Father.     That  is 
possible,  because  the  revelation  of  God  in  Christ  satisfies 
their  inmost  need  for  truth.1     The  Son  attests  Himself  to 
their  hearts  as  the  self-communication  of  God,  and  therefore 
they  are  justified  in  using  the  names  God  and  Jesus  in  one 
and  the  same  sense. 

The  experiences  of  foreign  missions  provide  an  apology 
for  the  Bible  stories.  Living  persons  only  can  mediate  life. 
The  story  of  Abraham  helps  to  bring  many  heathen  to  God : 
it  could  not  do  that  if  it  were  a  mere  myth.  For  God  is 
not  a  God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living.  A  mythological 
Abraham,  Jacob,  Samuel,  could  not  be  the  means  of  impart- 
ing a  new  knowledge  of  God  to  the  heathen  who  are  in- 
different to  religion.  It  is  not  the  moral  conduct  of  those 
men  of  God  whose  imperfections,  not  concealed  by  the  Bible, 
are  felt  by  the  heathen,  that  makes  them  precious;  it  is 
their   relation   to  God,  their  childlike   piety.     They  see  in 

1  "That  is  everywhere  the  way  to  God.  Even  the  low  idolater,  who  sees 
above  the  deities  the  one  living  God,  the  Creator  and  Judge  of  the  world,  can 
only  hold  fast  this  picture  in  Christ ;  but  through  Christ  he  can  enter  into  a 
personal  relation  with  God.  .  .  .  Only  through  Christ  do  the  heathen  be- 
come believers  in  God." 


232      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE3GOSPEL 


i' 


them  how  God  condescends  to  weak  men,  directs  their  lives, 
draws  them  to  Himself,  and  that  in  such  a  genuinely  human 
way  as  to  awaken  in  them  too  the  longing  to  have  this  God 
as  their  God.  The  biblical  facts,  from  the  creation  to  the 
outpouring  of  the  spirit,  could  not  produce  such  results, 
unless  they  were  actual  history  of  God's  revelation  of  Himself 
to  mankind.  This  actual  influence  of  theirs  attested  by 
mission  work  everywhere  must  have  some  power  behind  it. 
Power  Divine  pulsates  in  these  stories,  for  they  waken  life 
in  the  dead  heathen  world. 

The  missionary,  who  would  put  the  story  of  Salvation  in 
the  background  in  order  first  to  develop  ideas,  to  instruct,  con- 
vince and  prove,  would  deprive  himself  of  the  most  powerful 
means  of  evangelisation.  What  better  thing  can  he  tell  the 
heathen  about  God  than  His  acts?  The  Gospel  is  the  same 
to-day  in  heathen  missions  as  when  the  apostles  preached  : 
"A  concrete,  actual  manifestation  of  God,  an  interposition 
and  spontaneous  expression  of  His  living  reality  in  the  midst 
of  humanity.  .  .  .  For  all  that  its  hearers  learn  are  facts, 
purposes  of  God,  events  from  the  past,  present  and  future, 
promises  and  invitations — all  mighty,  objective,  real,  without 
any  reflection  or  contemplative  feeling,  entirely  homogeneous 
to  the  living  God  and  His  energising  action."  The  Gospel  has 
no  theory  about  its  facts  and  promises,  no  reasoned  ground- 
work, no  intellectual  adjustment  of  the  events  it  proclaims. 
The  effect  it  produced  was  directly  connected  with  this 
freedom  from  ideas,  to  those  who  are  perishing  an  offence, 
to  those  who  are  being  saved  a  power  of  God."  The  glad 
message  of  God's  revealed  deeds  carries  in  itself  the  power 
of  overcoinino;  heathenism. 


■& 


\  The  Gospel  brings  to  the  heathen  the  living  God ;    the 

story  of  salvation  reveals  Him  to  them  as  a  God  of  saving 
deeds.     Along  with  and  complementary  to  this  revelation  they 

I  receive  a  second  gift,  a  mighty  experience  ;  they  are  set  free 
from  their  old  slavery.  The  knowledge  of  God  which  comes 
to  them  from  His  revealed  acts  delivers  them  from  bondage. 
The  insurmountable  wall  that  rises  up  between  the  heathen 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    233 

and  God  is  not   sin,  as  among  ourselves   (not  in   the  first 
place  at  any  rate) ;  it  is  the  kingdom  of  darkness  in  which 
they  are  bound.      That  bondage  is  shown  in  the  fear  that 
surrounds  them,  fear  of  souls,  fear  of  spirits,  fear  of  human 
enemies  and  magicians ;  in  an  ignominious  dependence  upon 
fate.     The  Gospel  comes  to  unloose  the  ignoble  bonds.     It 
stands  forth  before  their  eyes  a  delivering  power,  a  redemption. 
That    meets   a    need   set   deeply    in    the    heathen    heart. 
Heathenism  is  sorely  pained  by  the  captivity  whose  fruits  are 
fear  and  misery.    But  what  frees  the  demon  worshipper  must 
be  a  power,  for  it  is  a  power  that  binds  him.     Deliverance 
can    only  come  through  some   mighty  deliverer,  the  living 
God.     The  heathen  is  freed  from  his  slavish  condition  when 
he   believes  the  message  about   the    one   Almighty   Living 
God;  and  he  is  led  to  that  faith  by  hearing  of  the  great 
deeds  which  reveal  Him  clearly.     He  enters  into  a  relation  of 
childlike  confidence  in  the  Almighty  which  sets  him  free  from 
the  power  that  has  hitherto  bound  him.     This  freedom  he 
feels  in  the  fact  that  the  fear  which  has  hitherto  darkened 
his   life   has   vanished.       The    separation   from   God  which 
exposed  him  to   fear  is   ended;    the  way  back  to    God  is 
found  ;  fear  then  ceases.     For  the  man  who  has  God  fears 
nothing  in  earth  or  hell.1     The  positive  side  of  the  gift  is 
communion  with  the  living  God,   its  negative  complement 
deliverance  from   fear   and   from   the  dominion  of  demons. 
The  heathen  who  have  found  God  have  nothing  more  to  do 
with  their  jailer ;  God,  their  mighty  friend,  has  made  them 
free  from  the  [xaTaun  (Acts  xiv.  15),  and  the  Pauline  cYvre 
ayyeXoi  ovre  upxal  (Rom.  viii.  38),  becomes  their  triumph- 
song. 

Any  one  who  knows  the  dark  power  of  animistic  heathen- 
ism will  understand  that  this  mighty  influence  which  the 
Gospel  exerts  cannot  fail  to  make  it  attractive  to  the  heathen, 

1  To  put  it  in  medical  language  ;  fear  is  the  symptom  of  the  disease,  i.e. 
estrangement  from  God.  The  heathen  adapt  with  efforts  of  despair  a 
symptomatic  treatment  (in  defending  themselves  against  the  dreaded  power). 
Christ  attacks  the  evil  at  the  root  (in  restoring  communion  with  God).  He 
helps  and  heals  ;  He  is  the  Saviour. 


234      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

and  most  precious  to  the  heathen  Christians.  Those  who 
feel  themselves  possessed  of  this  enfranchising  gift  conceive 
of  the  Gospel  too  much  from  this  side.  They  see  Jesus 
certainly  as  the  self-revelation  of  God,  but  they  see  Him 
chiefly  and  most  clearly  as  the  conqueror  of  demons  and 
of  the  devil.  The  heathen  understand  through  their  own 
experience  that  Jesus  has  come  to  destroy  the  works  of  the 
devil  far  better  than  many  Christians  to  whom  the  devil 
is  only  a  product  of  oriental  fancy,  a  dream  which  can  no 
longer  tit  into  refined  modern  thought.  Even  those  among 
us  who  believe  in  his  existence  have  reduced  him  to  "the 
tempter  "  ;  to  the  heathen  he  is  a  master  girdled  with  power, 
from  whose  despotism  Jesus  redeems  them.  In  their  old 
days  of  demon-worship,  the  sense  of  sin  sank  into  the  back- 
ground, because  of  the  conscious  misery  of  their  bondage  to 
the  devil.  They  lay  hold  then  of  Jesus  Christ  not  so  much 
as  a  Saviour  from  the  power  of  sin,  as  a  deliverer  from  the 
powers  of  darkness.  The  Gospel  truth  which  they  first 
grasp  is  that  Jesus  has  power  over  the  demons,  and  that 
He  has  come  to  make  sons  of  God  of  the  slaves  of  sin 
and  the  devil. 

Looking  back  upon  their  heathen  condition,  they  do  not 
think  of  it  as  guilt,  but  as  a  fate  from  which  God's  power 
has  wrested  them.  This  throws  light  on  a  fact  often 
observed  among  heathen  Christians,  that  they  are  apt  to 
view  the  sins  of  which  they  are  conscious  more  as  a  fate 
than  as  personal  guilt.  It  is  difficult  to  awaken  the  sense 
of  personal  responsibility  in  men  whose  wills  were  subject  to 
the  fascinating  power  of  Satan's  government.  They  believe 
that  they  were  acting  under  an  irresistible  constraint.  Jesus 
has  delivered  them  from  Satan ;  He  will  also  free  them  from 
sin.  The  consequence  of  this  mode  of  thought  is  that  many 
heathen  Christians,  while  recognising  sin  to  be  a  power 
opposed  to  God,  are  in  danger  of  underestimating  it  as 
personal  guilt  towards  God.  The  sense  of  sin  as  personal 
guilt  will  only  come  with  the  fuller  development  of  conscience, 
which  results  from  the  intercourse  with  Cod  which  has  now 
begun. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    235 

In  welcoming  Jesus  as  the  deliverer  from  the  bondage  of 
demons  and  of  fear,  the  heathen  have  not  got  the  whole 
Christ ;  they  have,  however,  that  in  Him  which  is  the  con- 
dition for  further  gifts,  viz.,  a  Redeemer  who  opens  the  doors 
of  their  prison.  He  is  for  them  the  mighty  Hero,  the  breaker 
of  their  bonds,  the  Saviour  who  delivers  them  from  the 
power  of  darkness  and  translates  them  into  the  kingdom  of 
light,  their  Lord  to  whom  they  now  belong.  From  the 
depths  of  their  soul  comes  the  confession  :  My  Lord  who  has 
redeemed  me,  a  man  lost  and  condemned,  from  all  sin,  from 
death,  and  from  the  power  of  the  devil.  The  results  which 
Christianity  produces  among  the  heathen  prove  that  it  is  a 
religion  of  redemption.  It  is  understood  and  it  is  welcomed 
as  such.  Zacharias  in  his  prophecy,  among  other  gifts  for 
the  deliverance  of  the  true  Israel,  reckons  «0o/3co9  e/c  x€lP0<> 
exOpwv  pva-Qkvraq  \arpeveip  givtw  (Luke  1.  74).  it  IS  no 
small  thing  that  Jesus  does  in  delivering  them  from  the 
hand  of  the  enemy ;  that  is  as  much  a  part  of  His  redeeming 
work  as  His  propitiation.1  Do  not  call  this  acquisition  of 
heathen  Christians  a  lower  stage  of  Christianity.  For  Jesus 
came  into  the  world  to  preach  deliverance  to  them  that  were 
bound.  Their  deliverance  from  the  iron  yoke,  whose  oppres- 
sion and  pain  we  cannot  fully  imagine,  is  an  astounding 
event,  the  greatest  in  the  heathen's  life.  For  them  it  is  as 
primary  as  was  the  deliverance  of  Israel  from  Egyptian 
bondage,  the  great  fact  on  which  the  faith  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment people  of  God  continually  reposed,  the  foundation  of 
all  the  rest  of  the  acts  of  God.  Jesus  appears  to  the  heathen 
in  overwhelming  majesty  and  glory  as  deliverer. 

We  may  put  it  thus :    The  Gospel  is  acceptable  to  the 

1  Paul  says,  in  Col.  ii.  15,  "God  has  quickened  us  by  Bailing  to  His  cross 
the  handwriting  that  was  against  us.  There,  on  the  cross,  Christ  has  made 
an  open  show  of  tiis  dpxas  ical  ras  i^ovalas,  by  spoiling  them  and  triumphing 
over  them.  Christ  has  spoiled  the  demonic  powers  by  His  death,  i.e.  divested 
them  of  their  former  power,  their  authority,  the  fear  with  which  men  clothe 
them  ;  He  has  held  them  up,  naked  and  bare  of  all  power.  They  now  stand 
in  their  nothingness  in  the  pillory  as  those  who  have  no  power,  and  are 
mocked  as  those  conquered.  Their  former  power  is  changed  into  impotence  ; 
they  are  unmasked  as  deceivers  of  men  who  are  ridiculed." 


236      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

heathen  as  a  kingdom  of  God ;  this  kingdom  is  conceived 
very  realistically  as  a  mighty  kingdom,  over  which  Jesus 
rules,  whose  subjects  are  proof  against  demons  and  evil 
powers,  because  they  are  under  God's  protection.1  They 
know  the  kingdom  of  darkness  from  their  own  experience. 
Jesus  has  conquered  this  kingdom  ;  He  delivers  all  who  are 
weary  of  Satan's  government ;  He  becomes  their  strong  pro- 
tector and  king.  This  conception  strikes  the  Animist  the 
more  readily  that  he  can  only  think  of  kingdom  or  state 
in  a  religious  fashion.  The  heathen  state  is  the  family 
extended,  and,  like  the  family,  is  based  on  religion ;  hence 
thev  conceive  of  a  new  religion  as  a  new  kingdom.  The 
kingdom  of  God  reminds  them  of  their  idea  of  state  in 
which  religion  and  state  are  closely  united.  That  kingdom, 
in  bringing  a  new  custom,  binds  men  to  a  new  line  of 
conduct,  and  represents  a  new  power.  The  mere  church- 
goers, who  do  not  even  attend  the  instruction  for  baptism, 
yet  put  themselves  under  the  protection  of  Jesus ;  they  feel 
with  a  certain  pride  that  they  are  subjects  of  Christ's  king- 
dom, and  being  therein  are  secure.  There  is  something 
attractive  to  the  heathen  in  becoming  a  citizen  of  this  mighty 
kingdom.  For  it  means  to  him  the  kingdom  of  freedom. 
Jesus  is  to  the  young  Christian  the  victorious  founder  of  this 
kingdom,  its  law-giver,  and  its  king.  Well  for  him  who  has 
become  its  subject. 

The  words,  "deliverance  from  the  house  of  bondage,"  sound 
sweet  in  the  ears  of  the  heathen.  When  the  evangelist  pro- 
mises the  polytheist  deliverance  from  fear  and  from  the  hard 
service  of  spirits  who  are  never  satisfied ;  when  he  invites 
the  weary  and  heavy  laden  to  accept  refreshment  and  rest, 
he  may  count  on  his  friendly  and  alluring  words  finding  an 
echo  in  their  hearts.  The  history  of  Ama  Gahonoa  (Fetero), 
on  the  west  coast  of  Nias,  is  a  typical  example  of  the  Gospel's 

1  "The  idea  of  a  kingdom  of  God,  a  kingdom  with  one  God  and  king,  the 
idea  that  this  God  is  God  of  the  whole  world  and  of  all  peoples,  that  His 
kingdom  is  universal,  that  all  are  called  to  it  to  be  saved  from  the  wrath  to 
come,  and  to  form  one  family  of  God  on  earth  and  in  heaven  ;  that  is  the 
universality  of  Christianity,  of  the  kingdom  of  God  which  must  he  the 
fundamental  content  of  missionary  preaching." 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    237 

influence  on  savage  heathen  hearts.  It  first  laid  hold  of  him 
as  a  message  of  deliverance  and  of  peace.  That  region  was 
continuously  infested  with  head-hunters,  and  the  poor  people 
lived  in  terror  by  day  and  by  night.  Lett,  the  missionary, 
told  them  of  Jesus  who  reconciles  men  with  God,  and  brings 
a  new  earth  where  there  will  be  no  head-hunters  to  disturb 
their  peace,  and  where  there  will  be  no  more  sickness,  sin, 
nor  death.  Deeply  moved,  Araa  Gahonoa  caught  Lett  by 
both  hands,  and  cried,  "  Lead  me  thither."  The  key  which 
opened  the  heart  of  this  heathen  was  the  message  of  re- 
demption interpreted  by  his  soul  yearning  after  outward 
peace.  The  Gospel  grew  afterwards  for  him  into  deliverance 
from  the  devil  and  from  the  bonds  of  heathen  religion. 
Ama  Gahonoa  soon  threw  away  his  idols ;  he  entered  into  a 
living  relation  with  God,  began  a  new  life  of  sincere  prayer, 
and  in  every  respect  became  a  new  man.  His  history  is 
repeated  in  many  of  the  heathen  of  the  Indian  Archipelago. 
The  starting-point  of  the  change  is  a  longing  for  deliverance 
and  redemption  more  or  less  outwardly  conceived,  but  this 
longing  is  deepened  in  the  case  of  those  who  have  come  to 
see  the  ruinous  power  of  spirit  worship. 

"  As  the  whole  power  of  heathenism  among  the  Kols  lies 
in  their  fear  of  the  Bongas,  or  evil  spirits,  conversion  to 
Christianity  must  begin  and  has  begun  here."  Rottrott 
declares  that  many  of  them,  weary  of  the  hard  service  of  the 
evil  spirits  and  groaning  under  their  dominion,  are  driven  by 
fear  to  Jesus  the  Deliverer.  "  They  turn  to  Him  because  He 
is  stronger  than  the  Bongas."  He  gives  the  same  testimony 
concerning  the  Uraos,  Mundaris,  Larkas,  Santals,  etc.  Fear 
of  spirits,  or,  as  they  say  afterwards,  of  the  devil,  a  longing  to 
be  redeemed  from  them,  drives  them  into  the  arms  of 
Christianity.  Richter  says  of  the  Aborigines  of  India: 
"  The  great  and  good  Father  in  heaven  who  sent  His  Only 
Begotten  Son  into  the  world  as  Saviour,  and  protects  His 
adherents  from  the  malice  and  power  of  spirits  and  demons, 
is  to  these  people  (the  Mundas,  Uraons,  Santals,  Karens, 
Khassi,  Nagas)  a  real  gospel  of  salvation."  The  Samoans 
declared  to  Williams  that  they  wished  to  become  Christians 


\ 


238      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

to  be  freed  from  the  malevolence  of  their  idols.  It  is  said  of 
Korea,  where  there  is  a  wonderful  movement  going  on,  that 
the  mission  has  freed  the  souls  of  the  people  from  the  old 
terrifying  fear  of  demons,  for  which  the  Koreans  are  very 

grateful. 

Miescher  reports  the  saying  of  a  black  man  on  the  Gold 
Coast:  "The  idols  and  fetiches  we  worship  are  the  death 
of  us.  When  one  of  us  is  at  the  point  of  death,  and  his 
relations  go  to  the  fetich  priest  to  inquire  the  cause,  he  tells 
them  :  The  patient  must  die  because  he  has  offended  the 
fetich.  Thus  we  see  that  we  are  worshipping  not  gods  of  life 
but  of  death.  ...  It  is  clear  that  we  are  living  in  the  land 
of  death.  Therefore,  we  pray  for  mission-stations  to  be 
planted  among  us."  Hoch,  the  missionary,  says  of  the  wor- 
shippers of  spirits  in  India :  "  If  we  ask  these  people  what 
causes  them  to  come  over  to  Christianity,  their  standing 
answer  is  that  they  could  not  remain  in  heathenism  because 
of  the  ever-increasing  torments  of  the  Bhuten,  while  they  saw 
that  Christians  were  not  afflicted  by  them,  and  were  not 
afraid  of  them.  It  is,  therefore,  the  longing  to  be  delivered 
from  the  dominion  and  torment  of  evil  spirits,  from  their 
bondage  and  the  fear  in  which  as  worshippers  of  Bhuten  they 
were  held  captive,  that  moves  them  to  accept  the  Gospel." 

.   .  "They    accept   Jesus   Christ   not   as   a   Saviour   who 

tedeems  them  from  the  curse  and  power  of  sin,  so  much  as 
me  who  delivers  them  from  the  sway  of  the  powers  of 
darkness.  The  truth  of  the  Gospel  which  they  first  lay  hold 
of  is  that  Jesus  has  power  over  the  demons,  and  that  He  has 
come  to  make  the  servants  of  sin  and  the  devil  sons  of  God." 
Rosier  bears  similar  testimony  regarding  the  Shambala : 
"  We  missionaries  all  experience  that  our  heathen  hearers  are 
never  more  attentive  than  when  we  tell  them  there  is  a 
deliverance  from  fear."  "The  missionary  does  that  by 
declaring  that  through  Jesus  we  may  become  children  of  God. 
The  more  the  Shambala  yielded  themselves  to  this  Jesus,  the 
more  their  fear  vanished.  They  laid  aside  their  former  means 
of  protection  and  began  to  trust  God."  Trittelvitz  vouches 
for  the  same  thing :  the  desire  to  be  delivered  from  fear  and 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    239 

from  evil  spirits  is  one  of  the  main  motives  that  leads  the 
Shambala  to  Christianity.  "Jesus  is  mightier  than  the 
smallpox  magician,  who  would  like  to  afflict  us  with  smallpox 
by  his  magic,"  said  a  youth.  Jesus  is  mightier  than  the 
ancestor  spirits.  Anyone  who  has  reached  that  conviction 
readily  comes  to  the  Saviour,  for  "  God's  people  have  no 
fear." 

Wherever  the  knowledge  of  Jesus  has  gained  a  footing  the 
demon's  power  is  gone.  Jesus  turns  out  to  be  victor.  That 
is  noted  even  by  the  heathen,  for  the  power  of  evil  spirits 
disappears  even  beyond  the  narrow  circle  of  the  Christian 
communities,  a  fact  which  gives  the  heathen  a  dim  sense  of 
God's  power.  It  is  said  of  the  early  Church  that  during 
the  Diocletian  persecution,  it  was  a  complaint  of  the 
augurs  that  no  omens  could  be  got  in  presence  of 
Christians.  However  frequently  the  sacrifice  was  re- 
peated before  the  Emperor,  it  was  of  no  avail.  The 
haruspex  of  the  day  declared  to  the  Emperor  that  the 
Christians  obstructed  the  oracles  and  signs  given  by  the 
demons.  The  heathen  declared  that  the  presence  of 
Christians  often  made  the  sacrifice  impossible.  Christians 
rejoiced,  but  suffered  persecution  because  of  it.  The 
heathen  Christians  of  modern  missions  have  the  same 
experience.  The  heathen  of  Halmahera  forbade  the 
Christians  to  take  part  in  their  festivals,  for  they  believed 
that  the  presence  of  a  Christian  drove  away  the  spirits. 
When  Fries,  the  missionary  in  Nias,  desired  to  witness  a 
heathen  festival,  the  priests  politely  asked  him  and  his  wife 
to  leave  the  place  ;  the  spirits  of  their  ancestors  could  not 
come  to  them  while  "  the  preacher  of  God  "  was  looking  on. 
Battak  magicians  have  openly  declared  that  since  "God's 
Word  "  came  to  the  country  their  magic  has  failed,  and  that 
not  only  with  reference  to  Christians.  Where  they  still  ply 
their  trade  they  become  more  and  more  noted  as  conscious 
deceivers.  Confessedly,  they  have  no  power  over  Christians; 
these  no  longer  fear  the  once  all-powerful  magician  unless 
they  voluntarily  return  to  their  bondage  by  falling  back  into 
heathenism.      A  spirit,  who  took  possession  of  a  man,  being 


240      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

asked  by  a  Dayak  heathen  why  they  did  not  torment 
Christians  also,  answered,  "We  cannot  see  them."  A  baptised 
Battak  priest  told  me  that  he  had  command  of  many  arts 
which  he  could  only  explain  as  the  inspiration  of  devilish 
powers  ;  but  that  all  supernatural  art  ceased  as  soon  as  the 
message  about  Jesus  was  made  known.  A  converted 
magician  likewise  told  Jellinghaus  that  he  had  often  seen 
things  that  were  true,  and  often  things  that  were  false,  but 
like  all  Christian  Kols  he  believed  that  magic  put  one  in 
real  connection  with  Mahadeo  (the  devil  god  of  the  Hindus) 
and  with  the  Bongas,  and  that  it  was  the  work  of  super- 
natural powers.  Like  all  Christians  he  was  firmly  convinced 
the  evil  spirits  can  do  no  harm  to  those  who  call  upon  the 
name  of  Jesus ;  they  retreat  before  the  Christian's  prayer. 
Another  magician  also  declared  that  since  Christianity  entered 
the  land  the  Bongas  had  lost  their  power.  Jellinghans 
remarks  on  this  :  "  I  was  interested  to  hear  from  the 
missionary,  Hugo  Halm,  that  the  Africans  (Herero)  also 
said  that  since  the  advent  of  Christianity  evil  spirits  had 
lost  their  power."  Rottrott  bears  the  same  testimony  regard- 
ing the  Kols  :  "  It  is  marvellous  how  little  confidence  the 
heathen,  in  a  Christian  neighbourhood,  put  in  their  cere- 
monies and  prayers.  The  consciousness  that  Isu  Massih  is 
far  mightier  than  all  the  Bongas,  who  are  forced  to  give  way 
to  Him,  soon  spreads  in  any  district  where  a  chapel,  or  a 
Christian  house,  is  found.  Hence,  the  heathen  like  to  build 
in  proximity  to  Christians  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  the 
protection  of  Christianity."  A  celebrated  magician  was 
challenged  by  a  fanatic  heathen  to  bewitch  a  Christian  ; 
he  declared  that  he  had  no  power  over  him,  for  he  prayed  to 
Jesus.1  It  is  often  said  that  magicians  admit  that  they  have 
no  power  over  the  missionaries,  but  the  heathen  attach  small 
importance  to  that,  as  they  regard  the  missionaries  as 
servants  of  other  and  mightier  gods  beyond  the  influence 
of  the  national  magic,  and  often  as  themselves  mighty  and 

1  A  Niasser  magician  put  the  matter  thus  :  "  If  a  disease  is  from  the  devil, 
the  patient  may  be  cured  by  idolatry,  but  if  it  is  from  God,  I  can  give  no 
help." 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    241 

invulnerable  magic  men.  Heathen,  once  demon  possessed, 
who  in  their  unbelieving  days  were  instruments  of  the 
demons  without  any  will  of  their  own,  when  they  pass 
over  to  Christianity  are  freed  from  their  tormentors  so  long 
as  they  hold  to  "  God's  word."  An  idol-priest,  who  had  an 
evil  spirit,  was  believed  by  the  heathen  to  have  been  com- 
pletely cured  by  his  conversion  to  Christianity.  While  the 
Mpepo  sickness,  which  is  regarded  by  the  Shambala  as 
possession  by  a  demon,  is  a  daily  occurrence  among  the 
heathen  Shambala,  it  has  completely  ceased  among  the 
Christians. 

The  young  heathen  Christians  are  conscious  of  a  sense  of 
freedom,  a  feeling  of  deliverance  whose  vividness  and 
strength  we  cannot  imagine.  The  deliverance  is  not  a 
mere  belief ;  it  is  an  experience.  To  the  Christian  it  is  as 
much  a  reality  as  the  demon  world,  whose  dread  has 
poisoned  their  whole  life  and  thought,  is  to  the  heathen. 
It  brings  a  great  gladness.  A  pure,  genuine  joy  runs 
through  all  the  utterances  of  newly  converted  heathen 
Christians.  Their  consciences  are  cleansed  by  communion 
with  God ;  and  they  are  free  from  fear.  These  heathen 
Christians  experience,  in  all  its  pristine  freshness,  "  the  great 
joy  which  is  to  be  to  all  people."  But  the  joy  and  freedom 
of  being  no  longer  under  the  fear  of  demons  can  be  felt  only 
by  a  heathen  once  involved  in  that  fear.  That  is  the 
repeated  testimony  of  the  Kols  Christians,  among  whom 
the  bondage  to  spirits  had  a  specially  dreadful  develop- 
ment. A  newly  baptised  Christian  being  asked  why  he  so 
long  hesitated  to  become  a  Christian,  answered  :  "  I  was 
fettered  by  idolatry,  and  did  not  know  that  the  heart  is 
made  so  glad  by  Christianity."  The  earnest  heathen 
Christian  has  a  sense  of  security  against  the  devil,  such 
as  we  see  in  the  hymns  of  Luther.  Riedel,  the  missionary 
in  Minahassa,  was  accustomed  to  ask  those  whom  he 
baptised  what  their  feelings  were  during  baptism  ;  most 
of  their  answers  sounded  the  note  of  joy,  that  they  who  were 
formerly  slaves  of  sin  and  of  the  devil  who  bound  them 
with  cords,  were  now  redeemed  and  free,  for  which  they 
Q 


242      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

heartily  thanked  their  Redeemer.  The  Niassers  also  express 
a  lively  joy  at  being  delivered  from  the  fear  and  tyranny  of 
demons.1 

A  converted  Dayak  testified  that  the  longing  to  get  rid 
of  evil  spirits  will  easily  lead  the  people  of  Katingan  to 
Christianity.  Another  told  how  one  of  his  relatives  had 
been  severely  tormented  by  evil  spirits,  but  had  been  freed 
from  them  after  her  baptism.  A  Dayak  just  baptised 
admitted  to  Feige,  the  missionary,  that  formerly  he  was 
much  harassed  by  fear,  and  was  very  glad  to  have  been 
delivered  from  it.  Feige  remarks :  "  This  is  a  common 
experience,  which  helps  to  bring  the  people  in.  Once  they 
believe  that  Christ  can  deliver  men  from  fear  they  are  soon 
won."      Even  the  Mentawey  Islanders,  who  are  still  unre- 

1  The  joy  of  the  candidates  for  baptism  in  Lolowa  is  touchingly  expressed 
in  a  hymn  sung  by  a  young  catechumen,  when  that  province  received  the 
missionary,  Krumm,  and  cast  away  its  idols.     He  sang  : — 
"  It  is  as  if  the  sun  had  risen  upon  our  mountains, 
Because  the  Tna  (missionary)  has  come  to  us. 

We  are  in  the  light  because  he  has  declared  to  us  the  Word  of  God. 
Lowalangi  (God)  has  come  to  us. 
The  Lord  has  come  to  us,  to  us  people  of  Lolowau, 
To  us  the  Iraono  Huna,  the  multitude. 
The  glad  message  has  reached  us,  the  message  which  satisfies  and  quiets 

the  heart. 
Therefore  are  we  gathered  together.     We  are  all  present, 
The  aged  have  come,  the  young  have  come, 
We  are  here  assembled,  we  are  now  all  present. 
We  whirl  round  and  beat  the  ground, 

Because  the  glad  message  comes  to  us,  because  it  has  reached  our  land. 
It  rushes  over  our  mountains,  and  sweeps  through  our  valleys, 
Because  the  Tua  is  among  us,  the  bringer  of  a  new  language, 

The  bringer  of  a  new  word. 
Therefore  our  heart  is  full,  our  heart  is  big  .... 
Why  came  the  message  from  the  region  of  Lahomi  ? 
Because  the  Son  of  God  has  come  to  them, 
Because  the  Saviour,  our  Redeemer,  is  among  them. 
He  has  come  to  men  on  earth, 
That  sinners  who  were  tormented  by  the  devil,  and  led  astray  by  evil, 

might  obtain  eternal  life. 
If  we  repent  and  forsake  our  sins, 
We  shall  find  the  way  of  life." 

(Sundormann,  "  Nias,"  p.  174  f.). 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    243 

sponsive,  feel    their  bondage.      A   woman   said :    "  We   are 
hopelessly  in  debt  to  the  evil  spirits." 

On  the  Island  Sangir,  a  dying  Christian  woman,  who  had 
formerly  been  a  priestess,  confessed  :  "  Before  I  was  baptised 
I  felt  like  a  heavy-laden  boat,  up  to  the  gunwale  in  water, 
and  in  danger  of  sinking ;  now  I  am  delivered  from  the 
heavy  burden  which  I  felt  oppressing  me."  Many  weak 
Christians  in  Halmahera  were  afraid  of  falling  back  into 
heathenism,  lest  they  should  again  be  haunted  by  the  spirits. 
A  baptised  Papuan  extolled  Christianity  to  his  mother 
thus :  "  You  would  have  no  more  fear  of  evil  spirits  and 
magicians  when  you  are  in  the  garden  ;  God  would  watch 
over  you." 

When  the  people  are  brought  out  from  their  prison,  life 
blooms  for  them  on  every  side.  They  are  no  longer  under 
the  crippling  pressure  of  fate.  They  no  longer  need  to 
give  up  their  cattle  for  sacrifices  and  festivals  ;  they  are  no 
longer  compelled  to  involve  themselves  in  debt  to  meet  the 
demands  of  the  priest;  they  are  no  longer  afraid  of  the 
magician  and  his  magic.  Peace  and  prosperity  spread  over 
the  land;  the  observance  of  days  and  the  innumerable 
prohibitions  of  Animism  no  longer  interfere  with  labour ;  as 
soon  as  the  fear  of  demons  is  removed  men  have  a  freer 
relation  to  their  fellow-men.  Without  this  innermost  de- 
liverance civilisation  would  bring  little  joy  to  heathen  people. 
The  Kols  Christians  are  a  striking  example  of  the  way  in 
which  a  people  is  elevated  by  the  sense  of  freedom  which 
redemption  brings.  Formerly  they  submitted  with  dull 
resignation  to  demons,  and  to  their  Hindu  oppressors.  But 
when  breathed  upon  by  the  quickening,  uplifting  and  emanci- 
pating spirit  of  Christianity  the  fear  of  demons  and  the  craven 
subjection  to  their  oppressors  fled  away.  "The  national 
effort  to  get  rid  of  the  Hindus  and  their  oppression  went 
hand  in  hand  with  their  emancipation  from  demon  worship." 

It  is  their  experience  of  the  living  God  which  convinces 
the  heathen  of  the  impotence  of  demons.  The  breach  with 
demon  worship  may  have  been  in  progress,  but  it  takes  place 
at   once   on   their   finding   God.      A   radical   conversion  is 


244      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

effected,  a  forsaking  of  what  was  formerly  venerated,  and  a 
submissive  turning  to  God.  When  a  Niasser  desires  to 
become  a  Christian  he  throws  his  numerous  ancestor  idols 
out  of  the  house,  effecting  thereby  a  radical  breach  with  the 
past.  Lett,  the  missionary,  called  on  all  those  who  had 
experienced  in  prayer  that  God  was  the  only  God  to  cast 
away  their  ancestor  idols,  and  they  were  at  once  ready  to 
do  so.  On  this  occasion,  Ama  Gahonoa  said  :  "  If  any 
one  had  formerly  offered  me  the  weight  of  these  idols  in 
gold  I  would  not  have  given  them  up.  I  would  rather  have 
had  my  throat  cut  than  have  separated  from  them.  But 
now  we  have  heard  from  the  Gospel  that  God,  in  Christ 
Jesus,  is  willing  to  be  our  Father,  and  have  experienced  that 
He  hears  our  prayers;  therefore,  away  with  this  idolatry." 
The  same  thing  was  repeated  everywhere  on  Nias  :  whoever 
professed  the  new  doctrine  brought  his  idols  to  the  mis- 
sionary, who  burned  or  buried  them.  Sometimes  the 
separation  from  ancestor  images  took  place  without  the 
appeal  of  the  missionary,  and  without  his  knowledge. 
Many  of  those  who  still  kept  their  idols  jeered  at  their 
helplessness.  On  an  occasion  of  that  kind,  Lett  says :  "  I 
felt  then  as  never  before  the  struggle  that  must  go  on  in  a 
heathen  heart  in  breaking  with  what  has  been  sacred  to  it 
since  childhood."  In  Bawalia  (Nias),  a  chief  cast  away 
his  idols,  saying :  "  I  do  not  believe  that  the  idols  can  save 
us ;  their  day  is  done.  Therefore,  I  put  them  out  of  my 
house,  and  give  myself  to  the  living  and  gracious  God  in 
good  as  well  as  in  evil  days." 

The  Battak  who  desires  to  become  a  Christian  casts  away 
his  idols  and  sacred  vessels,  and  breaks  off  intercourse  with 
them.  He  often  does  this  by  preparing  a  feast  for  them,  as 
before  and  after  completing  the  sacrifice,  announcing  his 
resolution  and  bidding  them  farewell.1  He  then  betakes 
himself  to  the  protection  and  service  of  the  Christian  God, 

1  A  heathen  chief  who  wished  to  become  a  Christian  gave  a  solemn  fare- 
well feast  to  his  ancestors.  After  having  shown  them  all  due  honour  he 
called  to  thorn  :  "  Accept  this  offering,  but  it  is  the  last.  I  am  a  Christian  ; 
farewell." 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    245 

and  all  intercourse  with  spirits  ceases.  The  renunciation  of 
his  former  masters  is  carried  out  by  the  heathen  definitely 
and  in  a  single  act.  Sacred  objects  to  which  their  super- 
stition attributed  secret  powers  were  handed  over  by  the 
heathen  on  Ceram  to  the  missionary  who  burned  them  with 
their  consent.  Poor  as  the  heathen  of  Halmahera  were  on 
the  moral  side,  they  had  completely  broken  with  heathen 
usages.  The  same  thing  is  reported  of  the  Alfurus  of  Mina- 
hassa ;  idolatry  was  put  away  on  their  passing  over  to 
Christianity ;  what  had  formerly  been  venerated  was  freely 
given  up. 

When  the  Papuans,  after  twenty  years'  resistance,  turned 
to  the  Gospel,  their  first  act  was  to  give  up  the  secret  cult 
and  hand  over  the  sacred  magic  vessels  used  in  it.  "  It  was  a 
memorable  hour  to  the  Bongu  people  when  the  men  came 
with  their  instruments,  blew  them  for  the  last  time,  then 
broke  them  in  pieces  and  cast  them  into  the  fire.  The 
women  who  had  been  summoned  by  the  men  to  be  present 
trembled  all  over  with  fear.  .  .  .  The  people  themselves  have 
cleared  away  the  secret  cult,  that  firm  bulwark."  Recently 
a  movement  towards  Christianity  was  started  in  Dutch  New 
Guinea.  Wherever  missionaries  or  native  helpers  came  the 
Papuans  freely  threw  away  their  amulets  and  ancestor 
images.  A  young  man  brought  his  ancestor  images  and 
said  :  "  Let  all  hear  and  see  that  these  are  deceivers,  who 
have  deceived  us  and  made  us  deceivers."  The  Papuans 
in  so  doing  consciously  broke  with  their  heathen  past.  Van 
Baarda,  the  missionary  at  Tobello  (Halmahera),  reports  a 
movement  among  the  Alfurus,  and  says  of  those  who  have 
come  over  :  "  The  men  who  burned  their  idols  have  been 
converted,  not  from  their  sins,  for  they  do  not  know  what 
sin  means,  but  to  the  living  God."  He  thinks  those  who 
thus  break  with  heathenism  worthy  of  being  baptised.1 

1  Coolsma  attacks  Van  Baarda  on  this  point  :  "Can  one  be  converted  to 
the  living  God  without  being  converted  from  his  sins  ?  "  Yes.  A  heathen 
can,  for  the  first  thing  in  his  case  is  to  turn  away  from  the  false  gods  and 
turn  to  the  living  God.  In  this  first  experience  the  sense  of  sin  which  is 
little  developed  recedes  into  the  background  behind  the  great  gift  of  deliver- 
ance. Conversion  is  not  the  same  thing  among  the  heathen  as  it  is  among 
Christians. 


J 


246      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

The  line  which  separates  the  Christian  from  the  heathen  is 
clearly  marked  here  ;  he  is  no  longer  a  sipelebegu,  a  "  sacri- 
ficer  to  spirits."  Such  a  conversion  should  not  be  reckoned 
of  little  value,  although  other  great  defects  adhere  to  the  con- 
verts. The  man  who  has  renounced  the  service  of  idols  is 
no  longer  a  heathen,  he  has  become  a  follower  of  the  true 
Cod.  That  cuts  deeper  into  life,  and  is  a  more  vigorous 
transformation  than  the  conversions  we  usually  see  in  Chris- 
tendom. Henceforth  the  catechumen  will  have  nothing  to 
do  with  the  altars  of  the  idols.  Such  heathen  have  broken 
with  idolatry  openly:  they  submit  to  instruction  in  Christian 
doctrine  ;  they  bind  themselves  to  a  Christian  walk  and  are 
baptised.  At  the  same  time,  however,  their  spiritual  life  is 
weak,  their  knowledge  defective  ;  they  may  remain  on  this 
level  their  whole  lifetime.  Yet  something  has  taken  place  in 
them  which  clearly  marks  them  off  from  the  heathen,  if  only 
they  remain  disciples  of  Jesus.  x 

"  Ye  turned  to  God  from  idols  to  serve  the  living  and  true 
God,  and  to  wait  for  His  Son  from  heaven  whom  He  raised 
from  the  dead,  even  Jesus  who  delivered  us  from  the  wrath 
to  come  "  (1  Thess.  i.  9).  Does  not  this  passage  teach  that 
the  point  of  first  importance  in  heathen  conversions  is  their 
turning  from  idols  to  the  living  God  and  their  believing 
apprehension  of  Jesus  as  Deliverer  ?  That  makes  a  break  in 
principle  with  the  old  life,  with  the  root  evil  of  heathenism. 
Their  knowledge  of  the  Gospel  may  be  still  imperfect,  may 
even  be  confined  to  "  the  first  principles  of  the  Word  of  God  " 
(Heb.  v.  12);  they  may  lack  above  all  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  sin  and  that  conversion  of  the  heart  which  is  based  on 
a  deeper  experience  of  salvation.  But  the  fact  that  they  no 
longer  have  any  desire  to  serve  idols  or  Satan,  but  the  living 
God  who  offers  them  grace  and  forgivenness  of  sin  in  Christ, 

1  Irle  testifies  of  the  Christian  Herero  :  "  The  ancestor  cult  and  its  institu- 
tions, ancestor  worship,  sorcery,  superstition,  fear  of  spirits,  have  vanished, 
aud  the  lost  god-consciousness,  together  with  the  knowledge  of  the  one  true 
God,  has  hecome  the  common  good  of  the  whole  people.  The  fear  of  the  dead 
and  of  the  vengeance  of  spirits  has  given  place  to  the  fear  of  the  true  God." 
This  much  your  missionary  must  testify  of  them,  though,  at  the  same  time, 
he  is  compelled  to  complain  of  their  defective  conduct. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    247 

shows  that  they  have  experienced  a  true  conversion  and  that 
of  a  primary  kind.  The  living  germ  of  a  new  life  has  been 
planted,  the  healthy  development  of  which  may  in  due  time 
lead  them  into  the  deeper  experiences  of  the  perfect  Christian. 
But  what  a  change  in  the  divine  judgment  has  taken  place 
for  these  converts,  despite  their  elementary  standpoint, 
is  seen  in  Col.  i.  13,  where  the  Apostle  calls  on  the  heathen 
Christians  to  give  thanks  to  the  Father  who  hath  delivered 
them  from  the  power  of  darkness  and  hath  translated  them 
into  the  kingdom  of  His  Dear  Son.  These  words  seem  to 
me  to  be  applied  to  the  most  elementary  stage  of  discipleship. 
They  show  us  what  God  had  in  view  in  the  words,  viz.,  an 
act  of  deliverance  of  souls  who  were  bound  by  the  powers  of 
darkness.  They  have  been  snatched  from  the  power  of 
heathenism,  which  was  driving  them  ever  deeper  into  sin 
and  ruin,  and  have  been  translated  into  Christ's  kingdom, 
that,  as  His  wards,  they  might  come  under  the  influence 
of  the  powers  of  His  spirit  and  life. 

Two  powers  prevent  communion  with  God ;  one  of  them 
is  external  to  man,  the  demons  and  their  prince,  who  have 
thrust  themselves  between  the  heathen  and  God  and  hold 
them  fast  in  iron  bonds.  The  other  is  sin,  the  devilish  in 
man  which  makes  communion  with  God  impossible.  In 
heathenism  both  are  at  work  for  man's  ruin.  Now  God  has 
conquered  the  powers  of  darkness  in  a  heathen  heart,  and 
brought  that  heart  into  connection  with  Himself ;  but  sin 
has  not  yet  left  the  field.  As  long  as  the  prince  of  this 
world  holds  them  captive  the  heathen  have  no  consciousness 
of  sin ;  and  even  after  they  are  delivered  from  that  sway  the 
consciousness  of  sin  is  only  gradually  awakened,  and  then 
other  powers  of  the  Gospel  are  deployed  against  this  foe.  It 
then  slowly  dawns  on  them  that  there  is  at  work  in  them  a 
second  power  opposed  to  God  which  may  endanger  this  new- 
won  relation  to  God,  His  first  great  gift.  When  the  negro 
slaves  of  North  America  were  suddenly  set  free,  the  feeling 
of  freedom  prevailed  over  every  other ;  no  doubt  or  care 
regarding  the  future  troubled  them.  So  is  it  with  the 
heathen   Christian.     He  is  conscious  of  being  delivered  by 


\ 


248      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

God,  and  is  happy  in  that  consciousness.  All  else  falls  into 
the  background. 

Many  a  heathen  gets  over  the  first  hindrance  ;  he  becomes 
free  from  the  slavery  of  idolatry,  but  is  held  fast  by  the 
second.  He  has  no  conception  of  the  ruinous  power  of  sin. 
Such  heathen  Christians,  and  there  are  many  of  them,  remain 
of  a  lower  grade  ;  often  they  go  downwards  ;  nay,  many  lose 
their  new-won  relation  to  God  and  their  freedom  along  with 
it,  for  death  is  the  certain  end  of  every  organism  that  does 
not  go  on  developing.  It  is  one  thing  to  be  laid  hold  of  by 
the  glory  of  the  Gospel  and  driven  by  the  longing  for 
redemption  to  burst  through  the  limits  of  heathenism  and 
attach  oneself  to  Christianity ;  it  is  a  different  thing  to  lead 
a  life  of  faith  and  obedience  under  the  discipline  of  God's 
spirit.  It  is  easier  for  the  heathen  to  be  a  Christian  in  the 
religious  than  in  the  moral  sense  of  the  word ;  or,  to  put  it 
otherwise,  it  is  easier  for  him  to  appropriate  the  truth  of  the 
Gospel  and  make  use  of  it  than  to  obey  its  moral  demands. 
For  the  appropriation  of  the  Gospel  that  brings  deliverance 
is  an  overpowering,  and  at  the  same  time  a  delightful,  ex- 
perience, but  its  moral  outworking  is  a  continuous  task  that 
strains  all  a  man's  energies. 

The  heathen  Christians  also  regard  the  turning  from  idolatry 
as  the  most  important  step,  for  they  look  upon  a  Christian 
who  again  takes  part  in  the  heathen  cultus  as  one  who  has 
fallen.  The  Battak  Christians,  elders  and  catechists,  beseech 
us  missionaries  to  be  indulgent  towards  the  moral  lapses  of 
church  members,  and  would  have  even  serious  transgressions 
forgiven  ;  but  if  a  Christian  should  again  sacrifice  to  ancestors, 
or  have  anything  to  do  with  magic,  no  earnest  Christian  will 
speak  in  his  favour ;  he  is  regarded  as  one  who  has  fallen 
back  into  heathenism,  and  therefore  as  lost.1     The  fallen, 

1  Christian  chiefs  of  Si  Gonipulon  (Sumatra)  protested  against  admitting  to 
the  Church  a  Christian  who  had  again  acted  as  a  spirit  medium.  They 
insisted  on  his  being  treated  as  a  heathen  and  passing  through  the  instruc- 
tion for  baptism  again.  When  some  Christians  in  Ginning  Sitoli  (Nias)  kept 
back  images  of  ancestors  after  all  others  had  cleansed  their  houses,  the 
Church  insisted  that  those  should  be  excommunicated.  Merensky  says : 
"Every  custom  which  could  in  any  way  be  regarded  as  superstitious  was 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    249 

some  cynically,  some  with  tears,  admit  that  they  have  fallen 
away  to  the  devil  and  been  given  up  to  eternal  destruction. 
They  are  perfectly  conscious  of  their  relapse  into  misery.  In 
the  early  mission  Church  also  the  only  sin  that  was  regarded 
as  definitely  separating  one  from  Jesus  was  the  return  to 
idolatry.1  The  young  Christians  know  that  that  is  the  lowest 
depth  to  which  a  heathen  Christian  can  fall,  for  the  turning 
away  from  false  gods  is  the  foundation  of  his  Christian  stand- 
ins  on  which  alone  can  all  else  be  built.  Communion  with 
the  living  God  is  destroyed  by  a  return  to  the  heathen  cult. 
That  is  the  very  thing  enjoined  by  Paul  on  the  heathen 
Christians  of  Corinth  (1  Cor.  x.  21  ;  2  Cor.  vi.  14  f.). 

It  is  no  small  thing  for  a  heathen  to  forsake  the  religion 
he  inherited  from  his  fathers,  to  refuse  worship  to  the  spirits 
he  had  dreaded,  to  shake  himself  free  from  the  all-powerful 
fear;  it  is  a  mighty  break  with  the  past  which  has  no 
equivalent  in  our  quiet  Christian  life.2  The  way  may  be 
prepared  for  it  in  diverse  manners ;  in  certain  circumstances 
it  may  be  lightened  somewhat;  but  it  is  and  remains, 
especially  in  the  case  of  first  candidates  for  baptism,  a  great 
and  most  significant  act  which  justifies  the  reception  of  the 
courageous  actor  into  the  Christian  community  by  baptism. 
He  has  experienced  the  first  of  God's  great  deeds,  deliver- 
ance from  the  sway  of  darkness.  He  has  experienced  the 
power  and  tender  mercy  of  the  Saviour.3     If  he  is  now  more 

sternly  discarded.  The  people  had  no  tolerance  for  these  things."  A 
magician  who  wished  to  visit  the  station  was  not  allowed,  for  the  Christians 
said  :  "  Such  a  magician  is  all  medicine,  his  hair,  his  saliva  ;  he  might  carry 
on  his  devilish  arts  in  the  night,  and  we  do  not  wish  our  children  even  to  see 
such  men." 

1  Cf.  Harnack.  The  duty  of  keeping  oneself  free  from  all  defilement  with 
polytheism  was  regarded  as  the  first  Christian  duty  which  took  precedence 
of  every  other  (p.  '292).  In  the  beginning  it  was  believed  that  this  sin 
could  never  be  forgiven. 

2  This  apparently  outward  breach  (among  the  Herero)  is  not  sufficiently 
valued.  Such  a  breach  must  have  more  than  mere  outward  causes.  It  is 
mostly  inward  distress  and  the  hope  of  being  delivered  from  it  which  drives 
them  to  take  this  step.  It  is  a  deep  though  unconscious  feeling  that 
he  is  lost  in  his  heathenism,  and  therefore  he  seeks  deliverance  in  God's 
Word. 

3  A  young  Ovambo,  having  been  called  by  his  old  heathen  name,  said,  by 


250      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

fully  instructed  regarding  God  and  His  saving  deeds,  as  well 
as  regarding  his  own  duty,  he  should  be  baptised.  It  no  doubt 
may  and  often  is  the  case  that  collateral  motives  have  a 
say  in  the  conversion,  that  Christianity  is  misunderstood  as 
deliverance  from  misery,  poverty  and  unrest,  that  the  new 
religion  is  expected  to  yield  help  in  outward  distress.  But 
if  these  mixed  wishes  lead  to  deliverance  from  the  bondage 
of  demons,  and  if  those  needing  help  are  brought  by  instruc- 
tion or  deeper  experience  to  renounce  Satan's  service,  then 
this  bypath  has  led  them  to  the  goal.  And  though,  as  is 
inevitable  in  successful  mission  fields,  many  heathen  seek  to 
become  Christians  because  it  has  now  become  the  custom, 
yet  even  they  are  weary  of  idolatry,  and  would  fain  turn  their 
backs  on  their  tormentors.  In  passing  over  to  Christianity, 
now  an  easy  matter,  they  become  free  from  the  sway  of 
demons.  The  important  point  then  is  whether  they  are 
willing  to  be  carried  further.  And  thousands  go  on  to  find 
much  more  in  Christ  than  they  sought,  a  thing  not  unknown 
in  Christendom.1 

The  message  of  the  living  God  who  created  the  world  and 
governs  it,  who  has  entered  into  humanity  and  freed  it  from 
the  fear  and  dominion  of  evil  spirits,  produces  a  unique 
effect  among  the  susceptible  heathen.  We  must  remember 
how  little  the  heathen  knew  about  God  when  they  broke 
with  heathenism,  and  how  little  they  still  know  ;  they  only 
know  some  of  His  doings  recorded  in  sacred  history.  But 
these  bring  Him  so  near  to  them  that  they  trust  Him  to  free 

way   of  distinguishing   the   present    from    the    past:     "  Haimbodi   died  in 
baptism  and  Enoch  arose." 

1  Augustine  judges  kindly  many  pretended  motives.  "Try  to  waken  in 
him  a  delight  in  the  purpose  to  be  what  at  first  he  only  wished  to  seem.  He 
shall  obtain  the  true  will  which  formerly,  through  his  own  guilt  or  through 
ignorance,  he  had  not."  Cyrill  of  Jerusalem  says  :  "You  may  possibly  come 
under  another  pretext.  For  it  is  possible  that  a  man  desires  to  ask  a  woman, 
and  that  he  comes  on  that  account.  A  slave  often  desires  to  please  his 
master,  and  a  friend  his  friend.  I  grip  the  bait  of  the  hook  and  take  thee 
who  art  come  with  a  had  intention  but  in  good  hope  of  being  male  partaker 
of  salvation.  Perhaps  you  did  not  know  what  net  would  receive  you.  .  .  . 
Jesus  captures  you  with  the  hook,  not  to  kill  you,  but  to  make  you  alive 
after  you  are  slain." 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    251 

them  from  their  tyrants.  This  limited  intelligence,  united 
with  their  experience  of  the  personal  God,  has  sufficient 
power  to  make  them  break  with  the  whole  heathen  cult. 
The  fear  of  spirits  disappears,  and  that  is  something  enor- 
mously great.  The  mother  in  childbed  no  longer  fears  the 
destructive  envy  of  the  spirits  ;  the  ghosts  that  once  swarmed 
around  at  deaths  and  burials  are  no  longer  heeded.  Sacred 
utensils  are  broken  in  pieces  and  images  of  ancestors  burned. 
The  candidates  for  baptism  go  with  axes  into  the  spirit 
grove,  and  cut  down  the  tree  which  was  held  to  be  sacred 
and  inviolable  as  the  abode  of  some  primeval  ancestor ;  they 
even  jeer  at  his  helplessness.  Young  Christians  do  not  hope 
to  become  free  gradually  ;  they  are  free.  The  Son  has  made 
them  free  indeed. 

Deliverance  from  fear  is  one  of  the  great  gifts  of  the 
Gospel.  The  fear  of  death  (Heb.  ii.  15)  makes  all  who  are 
far  from  Christ  slaves  as  long  as  life  lasts.  God's  messages 
to  men,  therefore,  frequently  begin  with  the  encouragement, 
fear  not.  Paul  says  (Rom.  viii.  15),  Ye  have  not  received 
the  spirit  of  bondage,  irakiv  eh  (pofiov ;  that  is,  you  wait  in 
fear  so  long  as  you  are  in  a  state  of  bondage.  It  is  said  of 
the  ungodly,  in  Ps.  liii.  5,  they  are  afraid  when  there  is 
nothing  to  fear.  The  ungodly  are  terrified  by  fear  on  every 
side  (Job  xviii.  11).  But  with  the  Lord  is  plenteous 
redemption  from  all  kinds  of  fear.  In  departing  from  God 
man  has  been  given  up  to  fear ;  reunited  with  God  he  is 
delivered  from  fear  ;  he  becomes  joyous  and  courageous. 
For  if  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us  ? 

Jesus  the  Revealer  of  the  God  of  saving  deeds  and  Jesus 
the  Deliverer — that  is  the  "  good  message  "  to  the  heathen. 
The  Gospel  presents  a  twofold  gift  which  animistic  heathen- 
ism can  appreciate,  viz.,  communion  with  the  living  God  and 
deliverance  from  idolatry. 

/ 

But  that  does  not  exhaust  the  Gospel's  power.     It  now 

offers  to  those,  who  in  their  deliverance  have  experienced  God's 
power,  the  most  glorious  gift  in  its  cornucopia,  the  love  of 
God  in  Jesus  Christ.     That  fills  up  the  deepest  defect  of 


252      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

heathenism,  a  defect  hardly  dreamt  of  but  now  called  into 
consciousness  by  the  proffered  gift.  Animistic  heathenism 
is,  in  its  very  nature,  unreserved  selfishness  ;  the  motto  of 
its  religious  exercises  is  a  loveless  struggle  for  existence.1 
It  need  not,  therefore,  surprise  us  that  the  Gospel  of  God's 
love  offered  to  hearts  still  under  the  sway  of  heathenism  is 
seldom  esteemed  a  gift  at  all ;  the  ear  of  the  heathen  is  not 
attuned  to  its  fine  melody.'2  The  gift  becomes  desirable 
only  when  the  latent  need  of  God's  love  rises  into  the  con- 
sciousness. For  that  a  longer  preparatory  work  is  needed.3 
This  begins  with  the  unselfish  compassionate  love  of  the 
messenger  of  the  Gospel,  in  whom  the  heathen  sees  for  the 
first  time  a  man  who  seeks  not  his  own.  It  then  happens 
that  the  living  God  attests  Himself  powerfully  to  their 
hearts,  and  the  enslaved  are  set  free  by  God's  grace.     The 

1  See  pp.  122-125. 

2  Helmich,  the  missionary,  writes  that  it  is  difficult  to  make  the  Papuans 
understand  the  love  of  God  in  Christ.  "If  you  tell  a  Papuan  :  Jesus  died 
for  you  on  the  cross  ...  lie  will  make  a  face  as  if  he  would  say,  Then  Jesus 
was  a  very  stupid  man."  "  I  began  preaching  about  the  cross  of  Christ,  and 
they  cried,  Away  with  that.  Such  presumption  to  tell  us  the  foolery  of  a 
crucified  Saviour."  Doring  tells  us  that  the  Shambala  answered  to  a  sermon 
on  the  love  of  God  :  "  You  say  God  is  love  ;  how  does  that  agree  with  His 
sending  of  the  locusts  ?  why  does  God  kill  men  by  lightning  ?  "  Richter  tells 
us  that  the  Congo  negroes  had  a  similar  reply  :  "If  God  loves  us,  why  does 
He  cause  us  to  be  sick  and  die  ?  "  They  would  not  admit  that  God  was  good 
and  they  were  evil.  "Why  did  God  create  injurious  insects?"  "Why 
does  not  God  destroy  the  devil  if  He  loves  us  ? "  The  latter  question  is  often 
put  to  missionaries.  A  certain  missionary,  H.,  was  bitterly  disappointed  at 
finding  that  the  message  of  God's  love  does  not  at  once  gain  the  heart. 
Before  he  went  to  Java  he  was  lull  of  enthusiasm,  and  said  he  would  every- 
where tell  the  people  the  parable  of  the  lost  son,  and  then  all  who  heard  of 
such  love  must  arise  and  go  to  the  Father.  Accordingly  he  preached  the 
love  of  God  with  great  fervour,  but  was  sorely  disappointed,  for  the  Javanese 
gave  no  heed  to  his  message.  His  disappointment  soured  him  and  made 
him  doubtful  of  missions  and  of  the  truth  of  the  Divine  promises  (Kruyt, 
"  Inlander,"  p.  83). 

3  The  heathen  Battak  finds  it  very  natural  to  say  "  God  is  <{ood."  It  is  con- 
stantly said,  "  God  is  gracious."  God  is  represented  as  an  old  weak  grand- 
father, who  always  excuses  the  faults  of  his  grandchildren.  When  they  are 
told  of  God's  love  they  think  :  We  knew  that  long  ago.  They  have  no  idea 
of  the  tremendous  difference  between  the  love  of  God  and  that  weak  laisser 
/aire  laisser  aller  of  their  own  god. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    253 

truth  of  the  Gospel  and  its  redeeming  power  masters  them 
and  they  renounce  heathenism.  Already  they  know  God  on 
one  side ;  when  they  gain  a  personal  relation  to  Him  it 
cannot  but  be  that  the  love  of  God,  the  most  inward  glory 
of  His  being,  should  reveal  itself  to  the  susceptible,  as  well 
as  His  power.  The  unselfish  love  of  God's  deputy  enables 
him  to  be  interpreter  of  the  divine  love,  and  he  will  not  fail 
to  urge  and  entice  his  hearers  to  look  as  soon  as  possible 
into  the  heart  of  the  evangelic  offer  of  grace.  The  preaching 
of  God's  love  for  lost  and  sinful  men  is  like  a  seed  corn, 
very  soon  planted  in  the  heart,  but  needing  a  long  period  of 
warmth  and  rain  to  spring  up.  It  will  germinate,  but  the 
sower  must  have  patience.  The  seed  of  the  noblest  trees  lies 
longest  in  the  earth. 

One  of  our  Battak  teachers  expresses  himself  as  follows 
about  the  effect  of  the  message  of  God's  love :  "  When 
preachers  of  the  good  message  go  to  a  heathen  land,  they 
at  first  declare  that  which  can  be  most  easily  understood, 
the  message  about  God  who  created  heaven  and  earth 
and  all  that  is  therein,  and  then  that  about  the  love  of 
God.  The  love  of  God  is  in  the  ears  of  the  heathen 
like  a  savoury  food.  For  men  will  always  be  glad  to 
hear  that  they  are  loved  by  a  Lord,  or  a  rich  man,  if 
they  themselves  are  poor.  The  evangelist,  therefore,  will 
always  speak  about  the  love  of  God.  In  speaking  of 
the  creation  of  the  world  by  God,  he  will  show  that 
God  cannot  do  other  than  love  us,  which  is  shown  by 
the  Paradise  which  He  destined  for  man's  abode  (then 
follow  the  stories  of  the  Fall,  of  Abraham,  etc.).  But 
the  love  of  God  is  most  plainly  shown  in  the  sending  of 
His  Son,  and  most  touchingly  in  the  fact  that  Jesus  died 
for  us,  and  that  God  for  His  sake  is  willing  to  forgive 
our  sins  and  raise  us  to  the  blessedness  of  heaven.  The 
love  of  God  dawns  on  catechumens  and  Christians  when 
they  reflect  upon  all  His  benefits.  Many  feel  God's  love 
in  the  hearing  of  their  prayers.  Then  they  gradually 
understand  God's  love  for  their  souls.  When  they  have 
seen  God's  love  in  the  sending  of  His  Son  they  venture 


254      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

to  pray  for  the  forgiveness  of  their  sins  and  to  hope  for 
eternal  life."  The  catechist  has  carefully  observed  the 
progressive  effect  of  the  Gospel  on  the  hearts  of  the 
heathen :  the  first  impression  is  made  by  the  knowledge 
of  God  the  mighty  Creator ;  this  is  followed  by  contact 
with  the  God  thus  known  ;  then  follows  the  message  of 
the  God  who  loves.  The  heathen  discovers  traces  of  God's 
love  in  His  intercourse  with  the  Old  Testament  saints ; 
he  passes  on  to  trace  God's  merciful  love  in  the  blessings 
of  his  own  life  and  in  the  answers  to  his  prayers.  The 
love  of  God  which  is  revealed  in  His  Son  is  perceived 
by  the  heathen  only  after  he  has  gained  a  personal  relation 
to  God.  That  leads  to  a  knowledge  of  his  sinfulness, 
wakens  the  longing  for  forgiveness,  and  develops  the  hope 
of  an  eternal  life.  A  whole  series  of  presuppositions  must 
be  fulfilled  before  the  love  of  God  in  His  Son  is  under- 
stood and  laid  hold  of. 

Another  Battak  catechist  presents  the  matter  thus : 
"When  the  heathen  hear  an  earnest  preacher  speaking 
about  love  they  are  astonished ;  they  are  also  astonished 
when  they  hear  of  the  love  of  God  to  men,  that  He 
even  sent  His  Son  to  death  that  they  might  live.  But 
for  the  most  part  they  are  only  astonished ;  their  narrow 
minds  cannot  at  once  take  in  the  great  message.  Only 
at  a  later  period,  when  Christianity  has  taken  a  deeper 
hold  of  their  heart,  do  they  more  and  more  understand 
the  love  of  God  which  was  made  manifest  in  Jesus." 
The  contracted  heart  must  therefore  be  enlarged  before 
it  is  capable  of  receiving  so  great  a  message. 

A  Niasser  Christian  described  his  development  as  follows  : 
"  When  Missionary  Thomas  first  came  to  us  it  was  said, 
What  is  the  good  of  our  going  to  church  ?  We  as  yet 
knew  nothing  of  our  sins  nor  of  prayer.  Gradually  we 
came  to  understand  God's  Word,  and  to  see  that  the  mis- 
sionaries' intentions  towards  us  were  good."  Thomas 
helped  some  families  to  get  rid  of  their  debt  to  a  chief. 
"Then  our  hearts  were  glad  at  being  free  at  last  from 
the   bad   chief    who   had   so    afflicted    us.       I    went   every 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    255 

Sunday  to  Church    to   hear   God's    Word,   though    at    first 
I    understood  very  little   of  it.      1    did   not   know   that    I 
had    sinned    against   God ;    I   did   not   know   what   would 
comfort  my  heart  when  it  was  sad  ;  I  did  not  even  know 
whither   my   soul   would   go   when    I    died,    nor  that   God 
would  judge   me   for   my   sins.       I    refrained    from    doing 
evil  only  because  I  was   afraid   of  being   punished.      But 
when  the  Word  of  God  gradually  found  an  entrance  to  my 
heart,  I  knew  that  not  the  idols  but  God  alone  could  help 
men.     The  idols  can  comfort  no  sad  heart.     Then  I  prayed 
to  the  Lord  Jesus  for  forgiveness  of  my  sins,  threw  away 
my  idols,  and  was  baptised.     Since  then   I  pray  to  God, 
have  given  myself  to  Him,  and  look  to  Him  to  save  me. 
I   am   firmly  convinced  that  Jesus  forgives   my  sins  when 
I  repent  and  pray  for  forgiveness.     The  Lord  Jesus  also 
put  it  into  my  heart  to  learn  to  read  and  write.  .  .  .  God 
has  also  blessed  me  outwardly,  because  I  have  given  myself 
to  Him."     Here  also  the  way  leads  from  the  periphery  to 
the    centre  :    first,    help   in   impoverishment  followed   by  a 
hearty   personal   relation   to   the   friendly   missionary.     For 
love  of  him  the  young  man  listens  to  the  Word  of  God, 
though  he  does  not  understand  it.     Among  the  hearers  of 
the   Word  the  knowledge   of  the   nothingness   of  idols   is 
awakened,  and  faith  in   the  living  God,  which  soon  leads 
to   prayer.      God   is   experienced.      The   idols   are   thrown 
away,  and  forgiveness  is  prayed  for.     More  and  more  com- 
plete becomes  the   surrender   of  the  whole  man  to  Jesus 
the  Saviour,  whose  friendly  hand  is  disclosed  in  the  guidance 
of  the  redeemed  man's  life. 

Ama  Gahonoa,  on  the  west  coast  of  Nias,  to  whom  we 
have  already  referred,  gives  a  clear  account  of  his  develop- 
ment. The  Gospel  commended  itself  to  him  as  a  promise 
of  peaceful  rest ;  he  expected  it  to  give  him  security  and 
deliverance  from  fear.  In  listening  to  the  story  of  salvation 
he  was  powerfully  apprehended  by  the  living  God;  in  a 
life  of  sincere  prayer  he  laid  hold  of  God,  and  in  living 
communion  with  Him  grew  in  the  inner  man  until  Jesus' 
love  took  hold  of  him  and  awakened  in  him  the  knowledge 


256      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

of  sin,  which  was  very  vividly  expressed.  Ever  since  his 
life  belongs  entirely  to  Jesus  his  Lord.  His  progress  is 
a  kind  of  ideal  example  of  the  heathen  Christian,  advancing 
step  by  step  to  the  full  possession  of  salvation.1  The 
spiritual  development  of  all  deeper  grounded  heathen  Chris- 
tians whom  I  have  known  in  Battakland  and  in  Nias  is 
the  same  in  its  fundamental  features.  The  knowledge  of 
God's  love  in  His  Son,  carrying  with  it  the  knowledge  of 
their  own  sinfulness,  is  the  apex  of  the  pyramid.  Many 
a  stone  must  be  laid  before  the  topstone  crowns  the  edifice. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  spiritual  life  of  those  heathen 
Christians  who  have  been  brought  up  in  Christianity  is 
developed  very  much  like  our  own. 

On  this  foundation  the  love  of  God  is  disclosed  to  those 
whose  communion  with  Him  is  more  inward,  until  they  are 
apprehended  by  the  Saviour's  love  which  becomes  the  second 
main  experience  of  their  life.  The  experience  of  all  foreign 
missions  is  that  the  love  of  God  is  seen  only  in  Christ  Jesus 
who  died  on  the  cross  and  whom  God  raised  from  the  dead. 
Despite  its  novelty,  the  heathen  remains  cold  before  the  love 
of  God  ;  he  acquiesces  in  it  as  a  self-evident  thing  until  he 
is  overpowered  by  the  mystery  of  the  cross.  It  is  not  the 
exhibitions  of  God's  love  in  the  old  Testament,  nor  the 
gracious  miracles  of  Jesus,  His  healings,  His  compassion,  nor 
even  the  experience  of  answered  prayer  that  convinces  the 
heathen  of  the  love  of  God.     The  great  miracle  of  giving  the 

1  To  prevent  misunderstandings,  let  me  say  expressly  that  every  heathen 
Christian  is  not  like  Araa  Gahonoa  either  in  his  development  or  in  his  inward 
maturity.  Our  inquiry  now  leads  us  more  and  more  upwards.  While  the 
experience  of  the  personal  God  and  a  real  deliverance  by  Him  must  be  pre- 
supposed in  the  case  of  all  who  break  with  heathenism,  the  processes  to  be 
further  analysed  are  seen  only  in  those  heathen  Christians  who  improve 
what  they  have  received,  and  allow  themselves  to  be  led  further  by  the 
Divine  <fift.  We  except,  of  course,  the  thoughtless  multitude  who  flock  into 
the  Church  at  a  period  of  conversion  of  masses.  But  no  outside  critic  need 
expect  all  converted  heathen  to  improve  the  gift  they  have  received  and 
advance  to  higher  attainments.  Even  in  the  heathen  world  the  gate  is 
narrow,  and  few  there  be  who  resolutely  follow  the  narrow  way  till  they 
reach  the  goal.  But  these  few  are  just  the  people  in  whom  we  may  see  the 
working  of  the  living  forces  of  the  Gospel. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    257 

loveless  hearts  of  the  heathen  an  inward  experience  of  the 
love  of  God  is  wrought  only  by  the  Crucified.  That  is  the 
kernel  of  their  conversion.  Jesus  then  becomes  to  them 
more  than  the  mere  victorious  deliverer  from  Satan's  chains  ; 
He  is  the  embodiment  of  the  love  which  rent  the  heavens  to 
save  the  wretched. 

This  experience  is  not  reached  by  all  heathen  Christians, 
but  by  those  only  who  suffer  themselves  to  be  carried  on 
from  stage  to  stage  by  God's  spirit.  These  are  the  best 
fruits  of  foreign  missions,  the  sheep  not  of  this  fold  who  hear 
the  shepherd's  voice.  The  power  of  the  cross  is  proved  by 
the  fact  that  in  all  missions  to  the  heathen,  from  Paul's  day 
until  now,  it  is  the  great  teacher  of  God's  love,  and  that 
only  those  heathen  who  have  been  apprehended  by  that  love 
at  the  cross  are  true  Christians,  full  of  divine  life  and  power. 
To  the  heathen  to-day,  not  only  the  educated,  but  the 
Animist  and  the  uncivilised,  as  well  as  to  the  heathen  of  the 
early  church,  the  preaching  of  the  crucified  is  foolishness ;  but 
to  them  who  see  in  it  the  love  of  God,  it  is  a  power  unto 
salvation.  Heathenism  is  overcome  inwardly  by  the  cross  ; 
the  heathen  are  made  new  creatures  by  the  crucified.  This 
is  where  the  secret  of  power  must  be  sought.  Wherever 
Protestant  foreign  missions  have  preached  Jesus  crucified 
for  men,  the  Word  has  not  returned  empty,  though  oftentimes 
it  has  been  long  ere  the  results  appeared. 

To  illustrate  these  observations  from  the  different  mission- 
fields  would  be  to  write  the  history  of  missions.  We  shall 
only  give  some  characteristic  indications,  with  the  view  of 
showing:  that  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  is  not  indeed  that 
which  is  first  understood,  but  is  in  the  end  the  moving  power 
of  heathen  conversion. 

The  history  of  modern  missions  began  with  J.  Beck,  who, 
after  five  years'  patient  labour  among  the  Esquimaux,  had 
the  joy  of  seeing  that  the  story  of  the  passion  made  the 
first  impression  on  their  incredibly  stupid  minds.  That  broke 
the  ice  (Kajarnack).  Zeisberger  had  a  similar  experience 
among  the  Delawares ;  the  preaching  of  salvation  for  all 
men  in  Christ  had  a  profound  effect.       "  I  never   saw  so 

R 


258      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

clearly  expressed  on  the  faces  of  the  Indians  the  darkness  of 
hell  and  the  world-conquering  power  of  the  Gospel."  They 
could  not  hear  enough  of  the  message  of  the  Saviour,  and 
were  constantly  exclaiming :  "  Yes,  it  is  surely  so,  that  is  the 
true  way  to  salvation."  Schneider  reports  of  the  first 
champions  of  the  Moravian  Mission  :  "  What  was  the  content, 
the  starting-point  and  centre  of  the  preaching  of  these 
missionaries  ?  Simply  that  in  which  they  themselves  found 
peace  and  comfort  .  .  .  the  incarnate,  suffering,  crucified 
and  risen  Christ.  They  were  witnesses  of  Jesus  Christ.  If 
any  of  them  attempted  to  lead  the  heathen  to  God  by 
another  way  he  failed."  With  this  message  they  won 
victories  among  the  Greenlanders,  the  Indians  and  the  Negroes. 
Tschoog,  one  of  the  first  baptised  Indians  of  Pennsylvania, 
who,  by  his  own  statement,  was  formerly  the  greatest 
drunkard  and  the  most  willing  slave  of  the  devil  among 
the  savages,  expressed  himself  as  follows  :  "  I  was  a  heathen, 
and  became  old  among  the  heathen,  and  am  therefore  well 
acquainted  with  everything  about  them.  A  preacher  once 
came  to  instruct  us,  and  began  by  proving  to  us  that  there 
is  a  God.  Then  we  said :  Why  !  do  you  think  we  do  not 
know  that  ?  Return  to  where  you  came  from.  Again  a 
preacher  came  desiring  to  teach  us  :  You  must  not  steal,  he 
said,  nor  drink,  nor  lie.  We  answered  him  :  You  fool !  do 
you  think  we  do  not  know  that  ?  Learn  that  yourself,  and 
teach  the  people  you  belong  to  not  to  do  so.  For  who 
drinks,  or  steals,  or  lies  more  than  your  own  people  ?  And 
we  sent  him  about  his  business  likewise.  After  some  time 
Charles  Rauch  came  and  sat  down  with  me  in  my  hut.  The 
substance  of  what  he  said  to  me  was  this  :  I  come  to  you  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth.  He  wants  you 
to  know  that  He  would  like  to  make  you  happy,  and  that 
He  desires  to  lift  you  out  of  your  present  misery.  For  that 
end  He  became  man  and  shed  His  blood  for  you.  He  went 
on  thus,  and  then  lay  down  on  a  board  in  my  hut  and  fell 
asleep,  for  he  was  weary  with  his  journey.  Then  I  thought : 
What  sort  of  man  is  this?  He  lies  there  and  sleeps  so 
calmly.     I  could  strike  him  dead,  and  throw  him  into  the 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    259 

wood — who  would  make  any  inquiry  about  him  ?  But  he 
is  not  uneasy.  I  could  not,  however,  get  rid  of  his  words. 
They  recurred  to  me  again  and  again,  and  even  when  I  slept 
I  dreamed  of  the  blood  which  Christ  has  shed  for  us.  Then 
T  thought  this  is  something  different,  and  I  interpreted  to 
the  other  Indians  the  further  words  which  Charles  Rauch 
spoke  to  us.  Thus  originated  by  God's  grace  the  awakening 
among  us.  Therefore  I  say  to  you  :  Brethren,  if  you  wish 
to  be  a  blessing  to  the  heathen,  preach  Christ  to  them,  His 
blood,  and  His  death." 

Riedel  was  preparing  for  baptism  an  old  priest  in  whom 
the  spirit  of  God  was  evidently  at  work.  When  Riedel  told 
him  of  Jesus  the  Redeemer,  the  old  man  said  with  tears : 
"That  is  a  religion  that  is  sweet,  and  comforts  the  heart.  I 
know  many  gods  and  have  sacrificed  to  many,  but  I  never 
heard  anything  like  that,  that  God  sent  His  Son  to  be  the 
Redeemer  of  sinful  men.  ...  We  are  afraid  of  our  gods,  but 
the  true  God  loves  us."  On  a  missionary  journey  in 
Betsileoland  the  missionary  Jukes  was  detained  by  heathen 
who  already  knew  the  Gospel ;  they  entreated  him  to  tell 
them  something  of  the  good  man  who  died  for  the  guilty. 
When  Stosch,  the  missionary  in  India,  quoted  to  a  heathen 
the  words  :  The  Sou  of  Man  is  come  to  seek  and  save  the  lost, 
he  exclaimed  in  joyous  wonder :  "Is  that  the  Gospel?  then 
it  is  sweet."  Richards,  the  missionary  to  the  Congo  negroes, 
after  preaching  the  commandments  for  a  long  time  in  vain, 
told  them  simply  the  story  of  Jesus,  and  soon  found  attentive 
hearers.  The  story  of  Jesus'  birth  excited  their  keen 
interest.  "  I  shall  never  forget  the  impression  produced  in 
the  chiefs  town  by  the  story  of  the  crucifixion."  After 
reading  the  narrative  to  the  end,  he  spoke  to  them  about  the 
love  of  Jesus.  "  They  were  like  men  electrified  ;  no  one 
spoke  a  word.  I  would  not  have  been  surprised  if  they  had 
said,  We  believe."  The  same  effect  was  produced  in  another 
town  by  the  story  of  the  passion.  The  preaching  of  the 
death  of  Jesus  on  the  Cross  originated  a  movement  through- 
out the  land,  and  melted  the  ice  around  the  heart  of  the 
long  insusceptible  negro.     The  Breklum  missionary  in  India 


260      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

produced  a  great  movement  towards  Christianity  by  preach- 
ing about  Jesus  who  died  for  us.  But  in  all  these  cases  a 
long  preparatory  work  preceded  the  impression  of  Jesus' 
love. 

The  power  exerted  by  the  Saviour's  love  is  not  a  mere 
passing  excitement  of  feeling  ;  that  is  entirely  foreign  to  the 
matter  of  fact  Indonesian.  The  reality  of  the  inward  experi- 
ence is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  all  those  who  taste  the 
love  of  God  are  convinced  of  their  own  un worthiness  and  sin. 
The  preaching  of  the  divine  law  cannot  do  that.  Even  those 
who  have  been  made  acquainted  with  the  Almighty  God,  and 
been  delivered  from  the  captivity  of  those  who  are  not  Gods, 
are  very  little  troubled  about  their  sinfulness.  But  the 
revelation  of  God's  inmost  nature  in  the  love  of  Jesus  makes 
them  feel  howr  unlike  God  they  themselves  were  and  are.  An 
entirely  new  feeling  is  liberated  :  how  valuable  I  must  be  to 
God  when  for  my  sake  He  died — and  how  unworthy  I  am  of 
His  love.  The  new  light  thrown  on  God  falls  on  their  own 
heart,  and  their  self-righteousness  gives  way  to  profound 
shame.  Then  only  does  the  heathen  Christian  begin  to  feel 
the  distance  between  himself  and  the  Holy  God.  He  sees 
with  a  shudder  the  abyss  on  the  brink  of  which  he  stood,  and 
from  which  redeeming  love  has  drawn  him  back.  God's 
love  is  the  ouly  thing  that  dissolves  the  crust  of  self-satisfac- 
tion.1 The  condition  of  being  lost  is  felt  as  a  condition  of 
debt.  A  heathen  Christian  in  Omaruru  said  :  "  To  me  it  is  a 
marvel,  and  I  cannot  understand  how  God  whom  we  are  daily 
grieving  and  offending,  whose  heart  we  are  again  and  again 
making  sad,  can  continue  to  love  us."  The  hard  heart  is 
conquered  by  the  Saviour's  love  for  sinners.2 

1  The  father  of  a  well-known  African  hunter  said  to  the  Missionary  Elmer  : 
"  Our  hearts  are  by  nature  as  hard,  inflexible  and  black  as  iron,  and  must  be 
hammered  like  iron  before  they  can  be  soft,  clear  and  flexible.  The  Lord 
Jesus  is  the  smith,  His  love  the  fire,  and  you  are  the  bellows. " 

2  There  is  of  course  no  particular  scheme  in  accordance  with  which  a  sense 
of  sin  is  awakened  among  the  heathen.  The  knowledge  of  their  former  moral 
shortcomings  may  be  matured  by  their  experience  of  the  living,  mighty, 
merciful  God,  as  in  the  case  of  that  Niasser  woman  who  was  cured  of  & 
serious  illness  by  God's  visible  help.     She  confessed  :  God  has  healed  me,  and 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    261 

Richards,  the  missionary  to  the  Congo  negroes,  had  for  a 
long  time  laboured  in  vain  to  convince  them  of  their  moral 
depravity.  Nothing  he  could  say  made  any  impression. 
One  day  he  related  the  story  of  the  crucifixion,  which  moved 
his  hearers  deeply ;  and  then  he  said :  "  You  have  heard  of 
this  man  who  loved  us,  and  went  about  doing  good,  and 
never  did  anything  evil.  Even  Pilate  was  forced  to  confess  : 
I  find  no  evil  in  Him.  But  He  died  on  the  cross  for  your 
sins  and  mine.  Will  you  now  tell  me  that  you  are  not 
sinners  ?  He  was  reviled  by  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees, 
despised  by  the  centurion,  mocked  by  the  soldiers  who  nailed 
Him  to  the  cross,  and  yet,  listen  to  what  He  says :  Father, 
forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do."  The  ice 
round  the  hearts  of  these  obdurate  sinners  melted,  and 
candidates  for  baptism  soon  came  forward.  Hesse  says  of 
mission  preaching  in  India,  that  Jesus'  death  on  the  cross 
reveals  both  the  love  and  the  severity  of  God.  A  Christian 
woman  in  South  Africa  confessed  :  "  When  I  try  to  bring 
Jesus'  great  sufferings  before  my  soul,  I  cannot  possibly  con- 
tinue to  sin  wilfully.  Oh,  how  I  still  feel  those  sins  in  me." 
In  many  heathen  Christians  the  knowledge  of  sin  arises 
suddenly  ;  in  most  after  a  long  hearing  of  the  Word  in 
sermons,  or  instruction  as  catechumens ;  in  many  still  later, 
after  they  have  long  been  Christians;  but  always  through 
Jesus,  and  in  proportion  as  they  are  affected  by  the  death 
on  the  cross.  In  mission  fields  where  the  heathen  are  driven 
to  the  Christian  Church  in  flocks,  there  are  many  who  have 
no  real  conviction  of  their  sinfulness:  they  consequently 
are  in  danger  of  imitating  the  experience  expected  of  them. 

In  the  case  of  most  heathen  Christians  it  is  not  the  know- 
ledge of  sin  that  leads  them  to  Jesus,  the  Reconciler :  it  is 
Jesus  the  Redeemer  who  leads  them  on  to  a  knowledge  of 
sin.  We  see  here  the  working  of  the  law  of  spiritual  usury : 
to  him  that  hath  shall  be  given.  The  man  who  has  been 
shown  the  Father,  who  has  been  set  free  by  the  love  of  Jesus, 

I  am  now  afraid  lest  I  sin  again.  That  is  an  experience  similar  to  that  of 
Peter  (Lk.  v.  8),  whom  gratitude  for  blessing  received  led  to  an  over- 
powering sense  of  his  sin. 


262      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

receives  further  aid  from  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  our 
faith  :  his  dull  eyes  open  to  his  own  misery,  and  he  sees 
dimly  that  all  this  work  of  God  is  of  undeserved  grace.  He 
finds  in  Jesus  infinitely  greater  treasures  than  he  sought. 
But  we  must  not  set  up  a  scheme  which  does  not  hold  good 
in  every  case.  Sometimes,  even  on  virgin  soil,  the  Saviour's 
love  for  sinners  is  the  first  thing  in  the  Gospel  that  masters 
them.  For  the  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth.  Anyhow, 
it  is  only  Jesus,  suffering,  dying,  who  awakens  the  knowledge 
of  sin ;  He  does  so  often  with  surprising  suddenness  and 
without  any  preparatory  mediation  perceptible  at  least  to 
human  eyes.1 

The  heathen,  now  in  possession  of  this  precious  relation  to 
God,  comes  to  see  in  sin  a  danger  menacing  it.  And  it  is 
the  death  of  Christ,  necessary  for  taking  away  the  sin  of  the 
world,  which  opens  his  eyes  to  this  fact.  The  dying  of  the 
Son  of  God  convinces  him  of  the  guilt  of  men  as  well  as  of 
the  love  of  God.  Jesus  becomes  thus  more  and  more  the 
determining  power  of  his  religious  life  ;  He  has  made  him 
know  God :  He  has  set  him  free  from  the  power  of  the 
devil ;  He  has  made  the  love  of  God  stream  over  him,  and 
opened  his  eyes  to  his  own  sinfulness ;  He  will  free  him 
from  this  inward  foe,  granting  him  forgiveness  and  the 
strength  to  fight.  The  name  of  Jesus  becomes  to  the 
heathen  Christian,  the  Alpha  and  Omega  of  salvation. 

1  Gloyer  had  an  example  of  this  in  Jeypur.  "  In  a  village  dwelt  a  robber, 
Chief  Mnria,  a  shameless  fellow,  who  came  to  me  and  said :  if  I  would  only 
venture  to  enter  his  village,  I  would  learn  how  powerful  he  was.  When  I 
arrived  he  stood  on  the  street  with  his  followers  heavily  armed.  I  preached  to 
him  about  the  Saviour  who  for  our  sins  was  so  weak  that  He  bowed  His  head 
and  gave  up  the  ghost,  and  who  is  so  strong  that  every  knee  in  earth  and 
heaven  must  bow  to  Him,  even  the  knees  of  robbers.  The  man  then  stepped 
in  front  of  me,  bared  his  strong  arm,  showed  his  scars,  and  said  :  Lo,  these 
scars  are  the  marks  of  my  crimes.  Can  the  Saviour  of  whom  you  speak  save 
as  great  a  sinner  as  I  ?  To  which  I  answered  :  You  came  to  me  and  said  you 
were  prepared  to  beat  in  my  skull.  You  may  do  it  if  what  I  say  is  not  true  : 
it  is  written  where  sin  abounded,  grace  hath  much  more  abounded.  The 
man  went  apart,  sat  down,  and  sobbed  loud,  I  have  seen  Him  die.  There  he 
9at  .  .  .  .  and  sang  :  Jesus  receiveth  sinners,  hath  even  received  me.  He 
then  bared  his  arm,  showed  his  scars,  and  said  :  No  man  knows  how  bad  I 
am,  but  my  sins  are  forgiven  me." 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    263 

This  awakening  consciousness  of  sin  in  a  heathen  man  is 
an  entirely  new  psychological  experience.  There  is  nothing 
in  animistic  heathenism  with  which  it  can  be  connected ; 
that  has  neither  any  knowledge  of  sin  against  God  nor  any 
desire  for  forgiveness.  And  yet  a  lively  knowledge  of  sin  is 
no  rare  thing  in  the  heathen  Christian  world.  There  can  be 
few  baptised  heathens — at  least  in  the  first  days  of  mission 
work,  when  the  forces  of  the  Gospel  are  most  direct  in 
their  action — who  do  not  sincerely  pray  for  the  forgiveness 
of  their  sins.  Two  things  co-operate  to  make  this  striking 
fact  psychologically  intelligible ;  the  love  of  Jesus  humbling 
the  proud  self-righteous  heart,  and  intercourse  with  the 
living  Holy  God  revolutionising  the  man's  own  self  estimate. 
Among  all  heathen  Christians  who  are  not  mere  camp 
followers,  but  who  have  gained  an  inner  life  of  their  own, 
the  consciousness  of  sin,  and  the  longing  for  reconciliation, 
are  lively.  There  are  no  pious  heathen  Christians  without 
a  real  sense  of  sin.  But  their  experience  of  forgiveness  is, 
we  might  say,  more  imposing  ;  and  their  faith,  after  they  have 
been  redeemed  from  the  devil,  and  brought  into  fellowship 
with  God,  is  more  confident  than  ours.  Looking  back  on 
their  heathen  past  they  see  that  sin  stood  between  them  and 
God  no  less  than  the  demons,  and  that  for  the  sins  com- 
mitted even  in  that  time  of  darkness  they  were  themselves 
to  blame.  A  former  magic  priest  at  -Samosir  (Sumatra), 
several  of  whose  children  died  after  he  became  a  Christian, 
saw  in  their  deaths  the  righteous  punishment  of  God  for 
evils  he  had  formerly  done  to  many  people.  The  Niasser, 
Ama  Gahonoa,  came  to  see  that  earthly  misery  and  unrest 
were  the  outcome  not  so  much  of  outward  circumstances  as 
of  the  corrupt  hearts  of  men.  In  his  case  the  knowledge  of 
sin  broke  forth  with  power ;  he  testified  to  his  countrymen 
how,  as  a  heathen,  he  transgressed  God's  commandments. 
A  Papuan  Christian,  who  suffered  greatly  on  a  sick  bed, 
said  :  "  I  am  suffering  so  much  from  headaches  now,  because 
I  had  a  hard  head  so  long,  and  spoke  and  acted  wickedly."  x 

1  Stosch  testifies  that  a  sense  of  sin  is  often  touchingly  expressed  by  the 
Tamul  Christians.  "  It  may  be  said  that  many  native  Christians  have  a 
clearer  consciousness  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin  than  many  in  Christendom. " 


2G4      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

Those  who  advance  to  a  knowledge  of  sin  are  the  true 
Christians,  the  good  fruits  of  mission  work.  Satan,  at 
first  their  greatest  and  only  conscious  enemy,  falls  into  the 
background,  and  sin  is  feared  increasingly  as  the  more 
dangerous  opponent.  There  are  those  also  who  love  their 
Saviour  most  sincerely.  With  them  it  is  as  with  the  sinful 
woman  in  the  Gospel ;  they  cannot  but  love  the  Saviour, 
because  His  forgiving  grace  has  opened  their  eyes  to  the 
grievous  sins  of  their  heathen  past.  Delivered  from  the 
night  of  darkness  they  embrace  their  Deliverer  with  all  the 
strength  of  their  grateful  souls.  This  stage  of  spiritual 
growth  is  not  reached  by  all  heathen  Christians;  many  of 
them  rest  on  their  first  experience,  viz.,  deliverance  from  the 
sway  of  demons.  These  are  inclined  to  deny  any  personal 
guilt,  to  ascribe  their  moral  backwardness  to  the  temptations 
of  the  devil,  whom  they  substitute  for  fate,  and  to  regard 
the  forgiveness  of  sin  as  merely  a  natural  function  of  God.1 
They  have  really  experienced  the  first  deliverance;  they 
have  come  also  to  know  the  living  God  ;  but  they  feel  no 
obligation  to  co-operate  in  maintaining  communion  with 
Him.  Such  rudimentary  Christians,  on  whom  the  curse  of 
stagnation  lies,  think  it  sufficient  to  confess  to  the  missionary 
their  open  sins;  their  wounds  are  supposed  to  vanish, 
leaving  not  even  a  scar,  and  no  one  has  the  right  to  recall 
them  again.  If  you  do,  you  get  the  astonished  answer: 
"Have  I  not  already  confessed?"  These  superficial  Chris- 
tians fancy  their  sins  to  be  an  offence  to  the  missionary, 
seeing  they  bring  down  his  displeasure  on  them,  and  they 
often  pray  quite  naively  :  "  Missionary,  I  want  my  sins  for- 
given." They  do  not  see  that  sin  stands  between  them  and 
God.  It  is  they  who  are  little  affected  by  the  love  of  God 
in  Christ.  Only  in  presence  of  the  world-wide  compassionate 
love  of  the  Saviour  does  the  heathen  Christian  understand 

1  Average  Christians  are  often  heard  giving  such  excuses  for  their  moral 
faults  as,  "The  devil  tempted  me,"  "  I  was  deceived  hy  the  devil."  Such 
people  do  not  always  feel  sin  as  a  personal  fault,  but  see  in  it  something  of 
the  power  of  late,  and  of  the  demons,  out  of  whose  clutches  God  alone  can 
deliver  them.     The  sense  of  responsibility  is  still  weak,  or  hardly  existent. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    265 

how  great  his  guilt  must  be  when  God  Himself  must  enter 
into  humanity  and  die,  in  order  to  provide  a  remedy.  Sin 
never  disquiets  those  whose  inmost  soul  is  not  touched  by 
the  love  of  God. 

The  deliverance  from  Satanic  powers,  and  their  renuncia- 
tion of  the  kingdom  of  darkness,  are  effected  at  once  ;  the 
comprehension  of  God's  love,  however,  and  the  resulting 
knowledge  of  their  own  unworthiness  is  gradual,  increasing 
in  depth  throughout  their  whole  life.  That  first  deliverance 
is  like  the  storm  in  spring  time,  which  breaks  with  wild  glee 
the  fetters  of  the  ice,  and  chases  away  the  snow  clouds ;  the 
Saviour's  love  for  sinful  men  is  rather  like  the  sun  of  spring, 
whose  mild  rays  dispel  all  winter's  traces,  wakening  flowers 
and  trees  from  their  winter's  sleep,  and  making  them  to  bud 
and  blossom. 

What  we  keep  separate  in  our  inquiry  may  be  closely 
interlaced  in  reality.  In  a  few  cases  here  and  there,  the 
knowledge  of  God's  love  may  be  primary  ;  in  a  few  it  may  be 
contemporary  with  the  experience  of  deliverance.  Among  the 
working  forces  of  the  Gospel  are  often  found  God's  gentle 
allurement,  which  makes  the  heathen  taste  of  His  prevenient 
goodness,  at  another  time  by  an  earnest  warning  to  the 
indifferent  or  hardened.  No  model  for  heathen  conversion 
can  be  set  up.  But  with  every  psychological  variation  the 
powers  operative  in  producing  the  change  are  those  men- 
tioned above.  However  their  spiritual  development  may 
progress,  the  force  of  every  true  life  among  them  is  Jesus 
the  Son  of  God,  who  died  on  the  Cross,  revealing  the  Divine 
love.  It  is  His  love  which  wins  them ;  His  love  which 
compels  the  heathen  to  bow  to  the  judgment  of  guilt  which 
wrought  His  death  for  us  ;  His  love  which  causes  them  to 
seek  cleansing  for  their  sin ;  His  love  which  conquers  their 
selfishness  and  impels  them,  pardoned  children  of  God,  to 
begin  a  new  life,  whose  genesis  and  development  is  a 
miracle,  which  nothing  but  the  power  of  God  in  Jesus 
could  accomplish. 

No  heathen  Christian  doubts  that  the  mighty  Jesus  at 
work  in  them  is  God.     Considering  the  great  gifts  he  has 


266      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

received,  and  is  constantly  receiving,  from  Jesus,  he  feels  the 
divinity  of  the  Giver  to  be  self-evident.  The  greater  the 
good,  which  any  one  knows  himself  to  receive  from  Jesus 
Christ,  the  greater  must  he  think  Him  to  be. 

The  relation  of  the  heathen  Christian  to  God  advances  by 
stages.  The  first  stage  is  the  removal  of  the  wall  of 
separation,  the  cessation  of  all  intercourse  with  the  devilish 
powers,  and  the  entrance  into  a  childlike,  trustful  relation 
with  the  living  God.  The  second  stage  is  being  apprehended 
by  the  love  of  God,  a  surrender  to  that  love,  and  in  the 
light  of  it  a  knowledge  of  sin,  and  a  longing  for  forgive- 
ness. The  third  stage  is  moral  renewal,  the  maintenance 
of  the  good  gained  through  constant  warfare  against  sin. 
Each  acquisition  may,  in  its  turn,  be  lost.  The  inviolable 
laws  of  growth  are  that  he  retrogrades  who  stands  still, 
who  does  not  strengthen  by  conflict  what  he  has  gained. 
If  the  filial  relation  to  God  is  not  maintained  against  ever- 
active  sin,  if  it  is  not  daily  renewed  by  repentance  and 
prayer  for  forgiveness,  this  fellowship  is  lost,  and  the  man 
may  fall  back  into  heathenism  and  its  bondage.  Such  back- 
sliders need  not  be  hypocrites ;  they  have  simply  failed  to 
keep  what  they  received.  Many  in  the  heathen  world  gladly 
welcome  Jesus  as  Deliverer  and  Redeemer  from  the  bondage 
of  fear  and  death  who  have  not  the  energy  to  enter  into  the 
conflict  with  sin.  They  rejoice  in  the  gift;  they  know  how 
to  prize  it ;  but  they  shrink  from  the  duty  connected  with  it. 

The  new  religious  relation  which  must  work  itself  out 
through  the  life  begins  then  on  this  first  stage.  The  heathen 
Christian  is  a  servant  of  God,  and  has  to  learn  from  Him 
what  to  do  and  what  to  forbear  doing.  At  this  stage  the 
convert  scarcely  feels  his  sin  as  sin,  but  he  is  ready  to 
abandon  anything  in  the  former  custom  which  God  forbids. 
To  all  heathen  Christians  at  this  stage  the  commandments 
have  the  educative  significance  they  had  to  the  people  of 
Israel.  Moral  work  is  of  the  law ;  it  is  done  by  constraint. 
A  true  moral  life  can  only  be  developed  in  them  on  the 
basis  of  that  new  relation   to  God  which  opens  their  eyes 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    267 

to  their  own  un worthiness.  New  forces  of  the  Gospel  are 
thereby  brought  into  the  arena,  forces  of  moral  renewal. 
Here  also  the  Gospel  presents  itself  as  a  gift,  for  the  new 
morality  can  only  be  carried  out  with  God's  help,  on  the 
basis  of  communion  with  Him,  which  is  a  gift  of  grace. 
The  branch  cannot  bear  fruit  except  it  abide  in  the  vine. 
The  moral  renewal  is  not  felt  as  a  demand  but  as 
an  experience.  The  New  Testament  ascribes  it  to  God. 
We  have  already  seen  that  animistic  heathenism  perverts 
moral  values ; x  it  has  no  fixed  moral  standards ;  it  even 
sanctions  infamies,  deduces  them  from  the  custom,  nay, 
declares  that  some  of  them  have  religious  value  and  are 
wholesome.  God  is  not  brought  into  connection  with  their 
moral  code.  Its  few  brighter  features  cannot  essentially 
influence  the  determining  power  of  the  immorality.  Ani- 
mistic religiousness  produces  moral  coarseness  and  blind 
self-righteousness.  The  organ  for  morality,  and  the  sense 
of  personal  responsibility,  are  destroyed  by  their  fatalism 
and  religious  communism. 

The  heathen  heart,  as  we  have  seen,  is  reached  not  from 
the  moral  but  from  the  religious  side.  The  heathen  has 
gained  a  living  relation  to  God  and  a  conviction  through 
Christ  of  his  own  sinfulness.  That  is  followed  by  a  personal 
obligation  to  a  moral  transformation  for  God's  sake.  He 
has  now  a  thorough  religious  interest  in  his  own  moral 
renewal.  To  maintain  communion  with  God,  the  highest 
good  which  the  Gospel  has  given  him,  he  must  become 
more  and  more  like  God.  The  impulse  to  a  pure  life  has 
its  origin  in  God.  The  new  religious  life  imperatively 
demands  a  new  moral  behaviour.  Hence  moral  regenera- 
tion becomes  a  gift,  a  creation  of  God,  who  deems  the 
degraded  heathen  worthy  of  His  fellowship.  Cleaving  to 
Him  in  the  consciousness  of  his  own  weakness,  the  heathen 
Christian  prays  for  divine  powers  to  carry  out  the  moral 
work.  The  life  of  prayer  is  thereby  deepened,  and  inter- 
course with  the  Heavenly  Father  becomes  more  intimate, 
for  now  he  prays  not  as  at  first  for  deliverance  from  earthly 

1  See  pp.  125-130. 


268      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

distress  and  for  proofs  of  the  Divine  power,  but  more 
intensely  and  with  much  greater  feeling  of  need  for  the 
preservation  of  spiritual  blessings  and  for  the  moral  powers 
necessary  thereto.  The  interest  of  his  spiritual  capital  is 
coming  in.     He  hath,  and  it  is  being  added  unto  him. 

Christian  morality  is  not  the  beginning  of  the  spiritual 
revolution ;  it  is  not  the  goal ;  neither  does  it  exist  for  its 
own  sake  ;  its  importance  is  as  a  necessary  means  of  main- 
taining communion  with  God.  It  becomes  a  religious  need 
\  of  the  redeemed,  not  from  gratitude,  but  from  the  impulse 
of  spiritual  self-preservation.  A  godly  life  is  not  the 
presupposition  of  the  new  relation  to  God ;  rather  it  is 
its  natural  result,  whose  lack  must  destroy  communion 
with  God,  for  only  the  pure  in  heart  see  Him.  The  New 
Testament  emphatically  demands  that  we  be  like  God, 
have  the  mind  of  Christ,  become  His  followers.  The  battle 
with  sin  is  fought  for  God's  sake.  Whence  does  the  young 
Christian  now  know  with  absolute  certainty  that  he  must 
no  longer  lie,  steal,  covet,  or  practise  fornication  ?  Ex- 
perience teaches  him  that  such  defilements  separate  him 
from  God.  Intercourse  with  God  educates  the  formerly 
perverted  conscience.  The  more  inward  the  relation  to 
God,  the  more  tender  and  susceptible  becomes  the  con- 
science ;  it  becomes  an  organ  of  the  soul  for  feeling  the 
disturbances  of  that  relation.  These  processes  in  the  soul 
of  heathen  Christians  originate  in  their  new  birth,  for  no 
heathen  religiousness  knows  that  the  relation  of  man  to 
God  is  endangered  by  immoral  conduct  and  is  preserved  by 
moral  effort. 

Moral  growth  is  slow  ;  it  progresses  not  by  leaps,  but  step 
by  step.  The  grosser  heathen  abominations  certainly  are 
given  up  at  once,  as  soon  as  the  heathen  know  the  true  God, 
and  their  animistic  view  of  the  world,  with  its  egoistic  con- 
sequences, is  broken  up.  The  missionary  has  no  need  to 
waste  a  word  on  cannibalism,  the  use  of  charms,  human 
sacrifice,  sorcery ;  such  things  cease  of  themselves  among  the 
professing  Christians.  Even  heathen  who  have  only  come 
into  contact  with   Christianity  feel  that  a  disciple  of  God 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    269 

must  no  longer  rob,  steal,  capture  slaves,  commit  adultery,  / 
smoke  opium,  swear  an  oath,  or  murder.  Does  not  the 
religions  preaching  reveal  an  enormous  moral  power  when, 
without  any  direct  insistence  on  the  law  or  any  constraint, 
it  uproots  those  abominations  of  animistic  heathenism  ?  If 
the  moral  conduct  of  heathen  Christians  leaves  much  to  be 
desired,  let  us  bear  in  mind  all  they  have  so  freely  given  up. 
But  yet  the  heathen  Christian,  when  he  boldly  burns  his 
idols  and  professes  the  new  faith  with  gladness  of  heart,  has 
little  divination  of  how  variously  and  strongly  the  new  powers 
of  the  Gospel  must  be  developed  in  the  moral  region.  He 
thinks  he  is  in  full  possession  of  all  the  new  gifts  of  Chris- 
tianity while  the  work  of  appropriation  and  inward  change 
is  only  begun.  In  that  he  is  not  unlike  many  young  converts 
in  Christendom  ;  but  God's  Spirit,  into  whose  school  he  has 
voluntarily  entered,  will  gradually  lead  him  into  all  truth. 

Consider  the  tremendous  revolution  of  thought,  will,  and 
feeling   in   anv  converted   heathen!      Everything  in  him  is 
changed ;  it  is  necessary  for  him  to  accommodate  himself  to 
the  new  situation,  and  make  it  in  everything  the  standard  of 
his  conduct ;  he  must  be  in  constant  conflict  with  his  former 
instincts,  with  inherited  views,  with  manners  and  customs 
deemed  sacred.     He  finds  himself  in  a  new  world ;  his  gods 
broken  in  pieces,   and  the  living  God  risen  upon  him,  in 
Whose  light  he  must  needs  conceive  life  in  all  its  aspects. 
No  longer  may  he  treat  his  fellow-man  as  an  enemy,  seeking 
to  gain  from  him  only  what  profit  he  can,  but  as  one  redeemed 
and  loved  of  God  whom  he  must  also  love.     He  looks  with 
other  eyes  upon  his  children,  souls  entrusted  to  him  by  God, 
his  wife,1  his  parents,  the  men  of  his  village  and  tribe,  his 
chief,  his  subjects,  his  enemies.    In  that  way  he  grows  in  the 
knowledge  of  God  and  of  the  love  of  Jesus,  and  wins  them  for 
his  sure  possession.     This  love  coming  to  him  as  the  greatest 
of  gifts  changes  into  the  highest  of  commandments.     From 
Jesus'  love  he  learns  to  love  his  fellow-men,  especially  his 
fellow-believers,  with  whom    he   feels  himself  united  by  a 

1  A  baptised  Dayak  declared:  "Because  I  now  love  God,  I  can  love  my 
wife  better  than  I  formerly  did." 


270      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

common  love  of  Jesus.  One  of  the  most  refreshing  features 
among  all  heathen  Christians  is  that  they  recognise  and  love 
as  brethren  those  whom  they  formerly  suspected  and  hated 
as  enemies,  and  that  as  a  matter  of  course.1  Self- regarding 
duties  also  present  themselves  to  the  young  Christian  ;  freed 
from  the  sway  of  the  Devil  and  the  service  of  sin,  he  feels 
himself  now  the  property  of  Jesus  and  a  temple  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  He  thus  learns  self-respect  and  self-discipline  in  aim 
and  act — tasks  novel  and  strange. 

Is  it  surprising  that  the  new  convert  should  need  a  long 
time  to  find  his  way  amid  the  forest  of  new  impressions  and 
new  duties  ?  or  that  he  should  so  often  stumble  and  go  astray  ? 
The  practice  of  moral  duties  is  far  harder  to  him  than  to  us 
who  have  grown  up  amid  Christian  morality.     Our  need  is 
simply  the  will  to  obey.     With  the  heathen  Christian  it  is 
very  different.     He  must  learn  his  new  duties  one  by  one ; 
he  must  find  a  way  of  obedience  in  the  teeth  of  all  his  spiritual 
inheritance  from  his  ancestors,  the  opposition  of  comrades 
who  still  think  as  of  old,  and  often  the  resistance,  bitter  and 
hard,  of  his  own  family.     Through  course  of  time  also  the 
joy  and  excitement  of;  redemption  die  down,  and  then  the 
national  failings  reveal  their  paralysing  power.     He  marched 
into  the   Christian  camp  of  freedom  and  love  with  flying 
banners,  never  dreaming  of  the  long,  weary  warfare  awaiting 
him.      The  heathen   apply  a  very  strict  standard  to  their 
Christian  fellow-countrymen.     That  proves  more  clearly  than 
any  particular  moral  acts  we  could  adduce  that  Christians 
strive   very  earnestly    even    from    the    beginning   for   moral 
improvement.     Their  heathen  neighbours  expect  that  Chris- 
tians   will    not    lie,    or    steal,    or    scold,    or    use    doubtful 
language,   will   not  stand   arrogantly  on  their  rights,  or  be 
irreconcilable,  will  avoid  acts  which  the  heathen  do  not  take 
amiss  in  one  of  themselves.     If  a  heathen  is  deceived  by  a 
Christian  he  makes  a  great  outcry ;  that  is  what  a  Christian 

1  Fetero  once  said  to  Fadoli,  a  converted  leader  of  the  head-hunters  on 
Nias  :  "  You  wished  to  make  war  on  my  father  and  me,  and  to-day  we  face 
each  other  as  brothers.  Who  has  brought  that  about?  God  alone,  who 
willcth  not  the  death  of  the  sinner." 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    271 

must  not  do.  Hence  the  general  walk  of  the  Christian  must 
awaken  among  the  heathen  the  beneficent  impression  of  a 
high  morality. 

The  decisive  fact  for  the  development  of  the  new  morality 
is  that  Jesus  have  the  central  place  in  the  life  of  the  young 
Christian.  All  who  have  become  Christian  for  other  reasons, 
to  whom  Jesus  as  the  self-revelation  of  God,  the  Deliverer 
and  Impersonator  of  God's  love,  has  not  become  a  living 
possession,  will  either  make  shipwreck  in  the  duties  of  the  new 
life,  or  will  remain  their  lifetime  in  the  harbour.  But  he  who 
gives  himself  up  to  Jesus'  guidance  will  be  led  by  Him  into 
the  duties  of  morality,  and  will  be  endowed  with  strength  for 
their  fulfilment.  His  faith,  at  first  a  mere  assent  to  what  he 
has  heard,  then  a  childlike  confidence  based  on  what  he  has 
experienced,  will  now  be  completed  in  obedience.  Jesus,  to 
whom  he  owes  everything,  becomes  the  highest  authority, 
whom  he  obeys  in  all  things;  Jesus'  word  becomes  his 
supreme  law.  Heathen  Christian  communities  frequently 
exhibit  this  obedience  in  a  way  that  puts  us  to  shame. 
Because  Jesus  prohibited  divorce  the  Christian  retains  his 
childless  wife,  though  suffering  severely  from  the  want  of 
children  and  though  his  heathen  relations,  who  cannot  under- 
stand such  conduct,  urge  him  to  divorce  her.  Because  Jesus 
requires  us  to  forgive  our  enemies,  the  candidate  for  baptism 
goes  to  his  deadly  enemy,  a  man  who  perhaps  has  slain  his 
son,  and  gives  him  the  hand  of  forgiveness.1     He  who  for- 

1  A  woman  was  about  to  be  baptised  in  Balige  (Sumatra).  In  the  candi- 
dates' class  along  with  her  was  a  chief  who  had  formerly  slain  her  husband, 
and  who  now  besought  Amanda,  before  being  baptised,  to  give  him  her  hand 
in  token  of  forgiveness.  She  refused,  saying,  "  I  have  in  my  heart  forgiven 
all,  but  to  put  my  hand  in  the  hand  which  slew  my  husband  is  too  much  for 
me."  Then  she  mastered  herself,  and,  though  trembling  from  head  to  foot, 
she  placed  her  hand  in  that  of  the  chief  as  a  token  of  complete  reconciliation. 
In  New  Zealand  the  Lord's  Supper  was  being  celebrated.  The  first  rank 
having  knelt,  a  native  Tose  up  and  returned  to  his  seat,  but  again  returned 
to  the  rank  and  knelt  down.  Being  questioned,  he  said,  "  When  I  went  to 
the  table  I  did  not  know  whom  I  would  have  to  kneel  beside,  when  suddenly 
I  saw  by  my  side  the  man  who,  a  few  years  before,  slew  my  father  and  drank 
his  blood,  and  whom  I  then  devoted  to  death.  Imagine  what  I  felt  when  I 
suddenly  found  him  by  my  side.  A  rush  of  feeling  came  over  me  that 
I  could  not  endure,  and  I  went  back  to  my  seat.     But  when  I  got  there  I  saw 


272      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

merly  stole,  voluntarily  restores  to  the  injured  party  the 
stolen  goods.  The  youth  remains  steadfast  against  the 
enticements  to  unchastity.  These  are  all  expressions  of 
the  new  obedience  which  we  have  often  seen  among  the 
Battaks  and  Niassers,  and  which  we  find  again  and  again 
attested  in  all  mission  records. 

Add  to  that,  in  the  second  place,  the  motive  of  gratitude 
to  the  Redeemer  who  loves  us  so  infinitely.     The  heathen 
knows  nothing  of  gratitude.     But  the  great  gift  has  enlarged 
his  heart.     Gratitude  to  the  Saviour,  whom  he  has  learnt  to 
love,  leads  the  heathen  Christian  to  endure  reproach  and 
persecution.     Gratitude  impels  him   to  become  a  voluntary 
evangelist  to  his  heathen  countrymen  ;  we  come  across  this 
in  most  heathen  Christian  churches.     The  voluntary  testi- 
mony of  a  heathen  Christian  of  what  he  has  experienced  is 
a   direct  test  of  the  gennineness  of  his  conversion.     This 
impulse  to  evangelisation  was  very  lively  among  the  first 
Christians    in   the    Battak    mission.     The   first   converts   in 
Silindnng  were  zealous  missionaries.    Pilgram,  the  missionary 
in    Balige   (Toba),    testified    that    his    first    pupils    became 
missionaries  to  their  parents  and  relations.     At  a  later  period 
we  find  the  missionary  zeal  of  the  elders  of  that  place  extolled. 
One  of  them  said  :  "  I  have  not  slept  a  whole  night  for  weeks. 
We  speak  with  the  people  almost  every  night  till   twelve 
o'clock,  and  should  be,  if  it  were  possible,  in  four  or  five  places 
at  the  same  time.    Even  chiefs  from  Si  Gaol  and  Samosir  (on 
the  other  side  of  the  Toba  Sea)  invited  us  to  preach  in  their 
houses."     It  was  owing  to  the  evangelising  impulse  of  the 
Battak  Christians  that  the  Gospel  spread  so  quickly  and  in 
such  a  healthy  way  in  Sumatra.    The  Battak  Church  has  even 
formed  a  missionary  society  which   carries  on  almost  inde- 
pendently mission  work  among  its  heathen  countrymen,  and 
has  now  sent  forth  two  native  preachers  and  several  teachers 
and  evangelists  whom  it  supports. 

the  upper  sanctuary  and  the  great  supper,  and  thought  I  heard  a  voice  saying, 
'  By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  love  one  another.' 
That  overpowered  me.  I  sat  down,  and  at  once  seemed  to  see  another  vision 
of  a  cross  with  a  man  nailed  to  it,  and  I  heard  Him  say  :  '  Father,  forgive 
them    for  they  know  not  what  they  do  ' — then  I  returned  to  the  altar. " 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    273 

The  mission  in  Nias  experienced  a  sudden  growth  when 
the  heathen  Christians  began  to  evangelise.  Men  like  Fetero 
and  Solago,  already  mentioned,  are  evangelists  by  God's 
grace.  Their  zeal  succeeded  in  opening  up  the  whole  west 
of  Nias,  together  with  the  island  of  Nakko,  and  in  procuring 
an  entrance  for  the  Gospel  among  the  notorious  head-hunters 
there.  This  missionary  zeal  of  theirs  is  somewhat  discon- 
certing. They  drop  their  work,  leave  their  families  for  k/ 
weeks,  expose  themselves  to  the  greatest  dangers,  willingly 
submit  to  mockery  and  derision,  endure  hunger,  heat,  and 
weariness,  without  seeking  any  reward.  And  God  has 
crowned  their  unselfish  labours  with  a  special  blessing. 

Newly  converted  heathen  Christians  in  Minahassa  became 
zealous  helpers  in  spreading  the  Gospel ;  they  vigorously 
supported  the  mission  in  their  homeland  and  elsewhere  ;  the 
community  at  Manganitu  sent  an  evangelist  to  Talaur ;  the 
same  thing  took  place  at  Ambon.  Mission  societies  have 
been  formed  on  Ceram,  which  partly  seek  out  independent 
fields  of  labour  among  their  heathen  countrymen,  partly  sup- 
port mission  work  with  their  contributions.  When  the 
Duma  community  on  Halmahera  began  to  evangelise  among 
the  heathen,  its  own  Christian  life  was  seen  to  get  a  new 
impulse.  We  had  the  same  joyous  experience  in  the  Battak 
Christian  communities.  Wherever  mission  work  is  zealously 
carried  on,  it  advances  the  spiritual  life  of  the  community 
engaged  in  it.  The  baptised  Herero  diligently  carry  on 
mission  work  among  their  people.  The  first  convert  of 
Ovambo,  Abraham,  felt  impelled  to  proclaim  God's  Word 
unceasingly  to  his  people.  Unknown  people  often  appeared 
at  our  services,  and  when  they  were  asked  who  first  spoke 
God's  Word  to  them,  the  invariable  answer  was  Abraham. 
Bechler  boasts  of  the  missionary  talent  of  all  South  African 
Christians.  Richter,  likewise,  of  the  missionary  zeal  of  the 
Consco  negroes. 

"  A  specially  outstanding  characteristic  of  the  Madagascar 

Christians  from  the  beginning  was  their  missionary  talent, 

which   made   them  carry   the   glad  message   of  Christ   the 

Saviour   of   sinners   to  their   heathen   countrymen."      Very 

s 


274      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

many  of  them  arc  preachers,  voluntary  evangelists,  and  the 
earnestness  of  some  of  them  would  put  to  shame  many  in 
England.     They  go   forth  in    the   burning   sun   for   five  or 
six  hours,  with  one  sole  purpose — to  proclaim  Christ,  and 
almost  without  any  earthly  reward.     Here  is  a  carpenter  in 
the  service  of  the  government,  who  works  in  Ambohimare, 
three  full  hours  from  the  capital.     He  leaves  his  post  on 
Saturday  afternoon  and  travels  from  six  to  seven  hours  in 
order  to  preach  on  Sunday  in  some  villages  about  four  hours 
south  from  Antananarivo  ;  when  the  service  is  over  he  starts 
homeward  and  takes  up  his  work  again  on  Monday  morning. 
Many  are  animated  by  such  zeal  in  preaching  the  Gospel. 
Miescher  testifies  :    "  Referring  to   the  question   about  the 
reality  of  conversions,  we  encounter  frequently  a  remarkable 
joyousness   of  testimony,    an   eagerness   to    convert   others, 
similar  to  what  we  see  in  the  newly-converted  among  our- 
selves.    Only  the  testimony  of  the  heathen  Christians  has, 
perhaps,  more  than  among  us,  a  wonderful  directness."     He 
mentions  as  one  example  among  many  the  extensive  mission- 
ary activity  of  the  American  negro  churches.     The  zealous 
missionary  work  of  the  Christianised  islanders  of  Oceania  is 
well  known.     The  communities  of  the  Karens  in  Rangoon 
have  begun  to  send  out  native  preachers  among  their  heathen 
countrymen,  aye,  as  far  off  as  Siam.     The  missionary  zeal  of 
the  Santal  Christians  is  celebrated  ;  they  extol  the  Gospel 
gift  to  their  countrymen  with  the  invitation  :  "  Come !  we 
have  found  something  good."     The  Christians  of  the  Pres- 
byterian   Mission    on    Formosa    have    already    their    own 
missionary  society.     The  evangelising  of  Korea  is  carried  on 
chiefly   by  the    missionary   zeal    of  native   Christians.     "A 
colporteur  with  his  bag  of  books  has  gone  through  a  pro- 
vince and  has  sold,  taught,  explained  ;  a  peasant  has  heard 
a  sermon  in  the  city  or  a  market  town,  or  has  received  the 
gift  of  a  tract ;  a  sick  person  has  visited  a  mission  dispensary 
or  hospital   and  carries   away   medicine  for  the   sick  soul ; 
a  Christian  pedlar  among  his  other  wares  has  some  Christian 
writings    for  sale,   and  passes  the  evening   in   reading  and 
explaining  them   to  the  listening   peasants  ;    a  Christian  of 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    275 

his  own  free  will  goes  into  a  heathen  village  to  carry  thither 
the  glad  message ;  a  believing  family  move  into  a  heathen 
neighbourhood  and  let  their  light  shine."  The  real  power 
of  propaganda  lies  in  the  community.  Many  Christians  have 
bound  themselves  to  set  apart  a  day,  or  a  week,  or  a  month, 
for  preaching  the  Gospel  in  the  surrounding  heathen  district.1 
Jesus  also  becomes  a  pattern  to  the  heathen  Christians 
who  are  in  union  with  Him.  That,  no  doubt,  implies  a 
higher  stage  of  Christian  life  than  many  of  them  have 
attained.  The  great  majority  of  Christians  in  the  Indian 
Archipelago  look  to  the  elders  and  teachers  of  the  community 
as  examples,  and  they  in  turn  to  the  missionary.  Whatever 
they  see  these  do  they  try  to  imitate.  Occasionally  we  hear 
such  sayings  as  these :  "  If  the  teacher  does  not  take  the 
truth  seriously,  I  need  not  do  so."  "  The  elder  is  living  in 
strife  with  an  opponent,  therefore  we  need  not  make  it  up." 
We  cannot  present  the  picture  of  Jesus  to  our  heathen 
Christians  in  the  same  way  and  with  the  same  results  as 
Paul  in  his  epistles.  The  human  side  of  Jesus'  person  seems 
to  have  little  attraction  for  the  young  heathen  Christians. 
In  Him  they  see  God,  obey  and  serve  Him  as  such  ;  His 
human  perfection  seems  to  them  too  far  above  ours.  But 
He  becomes  a  pattern  to  those  who  cultivate  a  more  familiar 
intercourse  with  Him.2  His  love,  and  not  least  His  love  for 
His  enemies,  touches  their  hearts,  and  implants  the  germs  of 
similar  emotions.  Their  moral  conduct  is  directed  by  Jesus 
as  far  as  their  religious  life  is  rooted  in  Him,  for  whoever 
has  real  communion  with  Him  feels  it  necessary  to  be  like 
minded  with  Him. 

1  Whereas  it  is  said  of  Japan  :  "It  is  an  almost  universal  complaint  in 
Japan  that  the  Christian  laity  have  little  desire  for  aggressive  evangelistic 
work."  That  is  exceptional  in  the  mission  field,  and  not  a  good  sign  for  the 
life  of  the  young  Church. 

2  It  is  said  of  the  Niasser  Fetero:  "In  course  of  time  we  rejoiced  and 
thanked  God  that  the  watchword  of  his  life  more  and  more  came  to  be  : 
What  would  Jesus  do  ?  Jesus  was  and  is  his  only  guide.  When  they  (Fetero 
and  a  friend  who  had  visited  Sumatra  to  see  the  Christian  community  there) 
visited  Brother  Reitze  at  his  station,  in  that  region  where  there  is  still  daily 
war  and  strife,  and  saw  how  Reitze  was  so  much  taken  up  with  contentions, 
Fetero  said  sadly  :   Tua  (master),  would  Jesus  have  done  that  ?  " 


276      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

Heathen  Christians  are  told  that  Jesns  will  come  again  at 
the  last  day  to  judge  the  living  and  the  dead.  The  eschata- 
logical  outlook  had  great  results  in  the  early  church ;  it  makes 
little  impression  on  any  heathen  Christians  I  have  known. 
The  reason  may  be  that  many  preachers  are  themselves  little 
affected  by  it,  and  so  emphasise  more  vividly  other  elements 
of  their  message.  But  the  deepest  reason  probably  is  that 
the  greatness  of  the  gift  they  have  received  makes  them  calm 
in  prospect  of  the  judgment  of  the  world :  Jesus  has  done 
such  great  things  for  me,  can  He  condemn  me  in  the  judg- 
ment? The  simple  childlike  trust  in  the  strong  Saviour 
hardly  allows  fear  of  the  final  judgment.  Dying  Christians 
go  to  their  Saviour  with  great  joyfulness  ;  sure  of  His  friend- 
ship, they  have  no  anxiety  about  the  judgment. 

The  experience  of  God's  power  and  love  removes  two 
great  hindrances  which  choke  all  moral  effort  among  the 
heathen,  viz.,  determinism  and  communism.  Belief  in  the 
living  God,  whose  power  has  been  felt  by  the  Christian, 
shatters  belief  in  an  unchangeable  destiny.  The  young 
Christian  knows  that  his  lot  is  at  all  times  in  God's  hand,  and 
that  He  can  change  it  as  He  wills.  He  has  learned  that  in 
prayer.  He  is  brought  to  see  also  that  his  good  or  evil 
deeds  are  not  fore-ordained  but  depend  upon  himself.  The 
feeling  grows  that  he  is  responsible  to  God  for  his  thoughts 
and  actions.  That  renders  possible  a  full  moral  growth. 
The  heathen  says :  I  cannot  change  myself,  for  I  was  thus 
created.  The  Christian  who  has  still  to  fight  in  his  own 
breast  with  his  inborn  mode  of  thought1  comes  to  under- 
stand that  he  is  responsible  for  his  acts.  The  death  of 
Christ  opens  his  eyes  to  his  guilt;  he  finds  that  he  can 
fight  successfully  in  the  strength  of  his  Saviour  against  his 
faults.  The  further  he  advances  in  obedience  the  more  the 
roots  of  heathen  fatalism  are  torn  from  his  heart. 

1  It  is  impossible  that  such  a  notion  fixed  in  the  soul  of  the  people  should 
vanish  from  the  heart  all  at  once.  We  meet  abundant  traces  of  it  among 
Christians.  One  of  onr  Battak  seminarists  in  a  trial  sermon  said  :  There  are 
three  kinds  of  suffering,  those  which  God  sends  to  purify  us,  then  penal 
sufferings,  and  lastly  fate.  Many  a  lazy  Christian  is  fond  of  appealing  to 
the  decisions  of  fate  as  an  excuse  for  his  moral  defects. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    277 

Jesus  removes  also  the  second  obstruction  to  moral  life, 
that  feeling  of  solidarity  which  deprives  the  individual  of 
judgment  and  decision  in  moral  and  religious  matters. 
Contact  with  the  living  God  and  experience  of  His  love  in 
Christ  teaches  the  heathen  Christian  to  feel  himself  a  person, 
an  individual  precious  in  God's  sight.  A  personal  religious 
life  produces  a  personal  moral  life.  Others  may  think  and 
act  as  they  please,  the  Christian  knows  his  own  worth  and 
his  way.  In  finding  a  position  towards  God  his  soul 
becomes  to  him  something  entirely  different  from  what  it 
was  when  he  was  an  Animist.  This  rousing  of  the  herd  of 
men  to  a  personal  life  is  one  of  the  great  services  of 
Christianity  to  animistic  peoples.  And  the  sense  of  person- 
ality grows  in  proportion  to  their  fellowship  with  Jesus.  In 
mission  fields  where  great  masses  turn  towards  Christianity, 
many  come  through  the  inherited  communistic  impulse  of 
having  to  do  what  the  others  do.1  But  when  these  appear 
for  instruction,  with  a  view  to  baptism,  they  undergo,  if  at 
all  susceptible,  and  if  they  do  not  turn  back  in  disappoint- 

1  In  the  Battak  mission  we  often  get  the  answer  to  the  question  why  they 
wish  to  be  Christians  :  "  Because  others  have  become  Christians."  We  were 
told  by  chiefs  of  a  heathen  province  that  Mohammedans  had  come  to  persuade 
them  to  accept  Islam.  But  they  had  answered:  "We  are  going  to  be 
Christians,  for  our  tribesmen  in  Silindung have  become  Christians."  That  is 
similar  to  what  took  place  in  mediaeval  missions  ;  religion  and  change  of 
religion  are  held  to  be  matters  for  the  whole  people  wherein  they  must  act  as 
far  as  possible  together  (c/.  p.  136  ff. ).  An  earnest  Shambala  teacher  con- 
fessed :  "  When  I  saw  my  brother-in-law  becoming  a  Christian  I  also  became 
one."  This  mode  of  thought  in  certain  circumstances  drives  many  into  the 
arms  of  Christianity.  We  should  not  turn  away  from  such  people  with  moral 
indignation.  After  a  few  pioneers,  then  families,  and  finally  provinces  have 
taken  the  lead,  a  way  is  opened  for  making  the  new  religion  credible  to  the 
multitude  (cf.  p.  145,  note  2).  They  are  not  of  course  baptised  on  account  of 
such  communistic  movements,  which,  however,  prepare  them  to  place  them- 
selves under  the  divine  message,  and  they  can  be  received  for  instruction. 
All  led  in  this  way  to  Christianity  do  not  get  to  the  heart  of  it  ;  that  accords 
with  the  universal  experience  of  Christ's  Church  that  many  are  called  but  few 
are  chosen,  and  that  not  every  one  who  has  learned  to  say  Lord,  Lord,  shall 
enter  into  the  kingdom.  Many  heathen  Christians  who  afterwards  attain  to 
genuine  faith  were  first  brought  to  Christianity  by  following  the  example  of 
their  fellows.  The  divine  powers  of  the  Gospel  can  take  effect  on  all  who  are 
willing  to  come,  no  matter  what  motive  caused  the  first  step  if  only  they 
allow  these  powers  to  work. 


278      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

ment,  a  cliange  of  thought.  They  begin  to  feel  the  import- 
ance of  personal  decision.  But  only  those  who  come  to 
know  Jesus  as  the  Saviour  are  yet  finally  free  from  the 
constraint  of  solidarity;  only  they  discover  that  they  are 
responsible  persons,  and  that  in  proportion  as  Jesus  becomes 
the  power  of  their  religious  life.  From  this  fetter  also  the 
Son  makes  them  free. 

On  this  basis,  the  organ  for  personal  responsibility  having 
been  awakened,  moral  work  can  now  proceed.  At  first  the 
new  convert  in  his  uncertainty  will  often  have  to  turn  to  his 
missionary  for  directions.  Feeling  dimly  that  everything  has 
become  new,  he  Avill  ask  :  May  I  still  drink  palm  wine  ?  may 
I  graze  my  cattle  on  Sunday  ?  Is  it  wrong  for  me  to  betroth 
my  child  at  an  early  age?  May  I  defend  myself  against 
the  assaults  of  the  heathen  ? x  But  if  be  cultivate  inter- 
course with  God  through  prayer  and  reading  of  the  Bible, 
his  conscience  will  be  formed  and  improved.  Advanced 
heathen  Christians  frequently  display  a  moral  delicacy  which, 
considering  their  former  coarseness,  is  simply  astounding. 
Constant  intercourse  with  God  throws  light  on  every  circum- 
stance of  life,  and  enables  men,  even  in  difficult  cases,  to 
find  the  true  solution. 

If  the  apprehension  of  the  love  of  God  and  the  feeling  of 
unworthiness  which  that  awakened  was  not  so  much  an  act 
single  and  complete  as  the  germ  of  a  new  life  to  be  slowly 
developed,  how  slowly  and  gradually  will  not  the  moral 
transformation  permeate  the  whole  life  ?  A  great  battle 
may  be  decided  in  a  day,  but  the  driving  out  of  small  hostile 
bands  from  a  difficult  country  abounding  in  defiles  requires 
much  perseverance  and  long  time.  But  the  pledge  of  the 
Gospel's  victorious  power  is  the  earnestness  with  which  this 
petty  warfare  is  carried  on.  The  moral  development  may  be 
interrupted  by  falls,  for  dangers  and  temptations  are  very 

1  Missionary  literature  gives  many  proofs  of  this  touching  search  for  new 
directives.  Some  Kols  from  Kutam  came  in  distress  to  the  missionary.  The 
Thikadar  had  made  a  Christian  villager  the  Munda,  had  placed  on  him  the 
turban  according  to  the  custom,  and  caused  the  drums  to  be  beaten.  The 
Christians  were  distressed,  and  wanted  to  hear  from  the  missionary  if  they 
had  theroby  committed  a  wrong. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    279 

numerous.  His  experience  of  the  power  and  love  of  the 
Redeemer- God  will  incline  the  heathen  Christian  to  attach 
little  value  to  his  own  moral  efforts,  for  his  salvation  rests 
entirely  on  God's  doing.  The  heathen  custom  will  occasion- 
ally tempt  him  to  acts,  of  the  impropriety  and  tendencies  of 
which  he  is  hardly  conscious.  The  tension  of  the  inner  life 
will  slacken,  and  he  will  become  less  circumspect  in  his  walk 
with  God.  All  that  does  not  condemn  the  heathen  Christian 
if  he  finds  his  way  back  to  God. 

The  judgment  of  spectators  of  missions  who  adduce  the 
lapses  of  heathen  Christians  as  evidence  that  mission  work  is 
ineffective,  and  that  the  baptised  are  one  and  all  hypocrites, 
is  utterly  unfair.  Can  the  European  traveller  really  expect 
to  find  perfect  Christians  in  these  young  communities? 
Frequently  it  is  to  temptations  brought  by  the  white  man 
himself  that  these  young  heathen  converts  succumb  ;  but, 
apart  from  that,  we  should  remember  how  immature  they  are, 
and  that  moral  progress  with  them  as  with  us  is  a  series  of 
falls  and  recoveries.  To  put  it  in  the  figure  of  a  Battak 
teacher  :  the  moral  progress  of  the  Christian  is  like  the  wheel 
of  a  waggon  which  is  sometimes  up,  sometimes  down,  some- 
times in  the  mire,  sometimes  on  the  clean  street,  but  always 
advancing.1  Compared  with  what  they  were,  heathen 
Christians  have  undergone  a  profound  change.  One  sin  only 
must  be  differently  assessed,  relapse  into  heathenism,  for  that 
means  not  a  moral  lapse  but  a  conscious  denial  of  the  true 
God,  and  a  resolute  breaking  away  from  His  communion. 
This  sin  is  therefore  in  every  mission  church  visited  with  the 
severest  discipline,  with  the  complete  moral  assent  of  the 
young  community. 

The  earnest  efforts  of  heathen  Christians  to  live  a  God- 
pleasing  life  are  tried  severely  in  the  struggle  which  they 
carry  on  against  the  depraved  national  customs  and  the 
traditional  national  vices.  Few  critics  of  foreign  missions 
sufficiently  appreciate   the   severity  of  this   struggle.     They 

1  Zinzendorf  warned  his  missionaries  not  to  expect  too  much  from  the 
young  heathen  Christians  :  "Do  not  measure  souls  with  the  Moravian  yard 
stick." 


280      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

must  perpetually  reckon  with  the  national  customs,  and  adapt 
their  ways  over  against  them,  and  that  produces  a  constant 
feeling  of  strain  and  much  heat  between  both  parties.  The 
moral  conflict,  difficult  in  itself,  is  aggravated  by  the  powerful 
hostility  of  the  guardians  of  the  custom,  and  by  the  hatred  of 
the  people.  But  the  heathen  Christians  inwardly  renewed 
by  Christianity  fearlessly  stand  up  to  their  opponents.  Like 
all  members  of  the  Malay  race  the  Battaks  are  by  nature 
untruthful,  insincere  and  cunning.  The  Christians  among 
them  are  not  of  course  absolutely  reliable  and  truthful  from 
the  moment  of  their  baptism  ;  missionaries  have  abundant 
cause  to  bewail  the  lies  of  their  converts.  But  they  recognise 
their  faults  and  fight  against  them  ;  they  become  ashamed  of 
lying.1  Often  they  prevail  over  themselves  to  speak  the 
truth,  and  they  confess  a  lie  voluntarily  even  when  by  so 
doing  they  involve  themselves  in  injury  and  punishment. 
The  Battak  is  by  nature  lazy  ;  the  Christians  among  them  are 
everywhere  diligent.  Naturally  timid,  they  become  brave 
through  their  confidence  in  God.  Little  things  betray  the 
moral  progress  clearly  enough.  There  are  individuals  in 
advance  of  the  mass.  We  have  Battak  Christians  whose 
word  can  be  absolutely  trusted.  These  are  examples  to  the 
community,  and  are  highly  esteemed  by  the  heathen.  We 
are  told  of  the  Niassers  :  "  Former  vices  such  as  drinking 
palm  wine,  cursing,  lying,  dishonesty,  are  more  and  more 
recognised  to  be  vices  and  given  up."  Nottrott  enlarges  on 
the  moral  condition  of  the  Kols  communities,  and  declares 
that,  in  spite  of  many  defects,  great  things  have  been  accom- 
plished, and  that  Christians  get  the  better  of  their  national 
defects.  It  would  take  volumes  to  enumerate  how  through 
God's  grace  the  Alfurus,  the  Ambonese,  the  inhabitants  of 
the  South  Seas,  the  Basutos,  the  Kaffirs  of  South  Africa,  the 
Baganda  in  East  Africa,  the  inhabitants  of  Madagascar,  the 

1  The  Mohammedans  in  Sumatra  put  more  trust  in  Christians  than  in 
their  fellow  believers.  A  Mohammedan  said:  "If  I  lend  money  to  a 
Mohammedan,  witnesses  must  be  present ;  in  the  case  of  a  Christian  that  is 
not  necessary.  The  heathen  in  South  Africa  know  that  baptised  black 
women  do  not  lie  nor  deceive. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    281 

Karens,  etc.,  have  become  new  men.  It  is  sufficient  here  to 
state  that  the  appropriation  of  the  good  message  is  regularly 
followed  by  moral  renewal. 

We  cannot  rate  too  highly  the  noble  struggle  against  the 
national  custom,  for  that  custom  is  "  not  a  mere  conglomerate 
of  ungrounded  and  incoherent  details,  but  the  inevitable 
result  of  a  host  of  factors  internal  and  external."  '  Their 
moral  life  is  never  a  mere  conflict  with  sin  in  their  own  heart ; 
it  is  a  struggle  at  the  same  time  with  views  and  habits 
imbibed  from  childhood,  with  heathen  surroundings  in  their 
own  family  and  relations,  in  the  tribe,  and  in  the  nation. 
This  struggle  is  intensified  in  two  ways:  (1)  This  national 
custom  has  grown  out  of  the  spiritual  soil  in  which  the  young 
Christian  is  himself  rooted ;  to  neglect  it,  to  oppose  it,  is  like 
uprooting  himself  from  the  soil  where  his  life  grew.  (2) 
These  customs  are  so  inextricably  interwoven  and  inter- 
related with  his  whole  manner  of  life  from  childhood  that 
moral  difficulties  arise  peculiar  to  his  state,  and  felt  only  by 
such  as  he,  which  no  foreigner  can  fairly  appreciate."  To 
speak  the  truth,  to  be  honest,  is,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Kaffir, 
to  be  ridiculous,  a  stupid  booby.  Any  one  who  lives  soberly 
and  chastely  does  not  come  up  to  the  ideal  of  manliness.  It 
is  easy  to  see  that  the  ethical  demands  of  Christianity  are 
very  hard  to  carry  out  in  the  face  of  this  oppressive  national 
custom. 

The  Christian  Church,  the  new  community  into  which  he 
has  entered,  helps  the  young  Christian  in  this  conflict.  It 
gives  a  home  to  those  detached  from  their  nationality ;  it 
instructs  them;  it  disciplines  them,  not  to  judge  and  enslave 
them,  but  to  support  their  stumbling  steps  back  to  the  right 
way.  The  community  must  not  be  afraid  to  set  up  in  the 
interests  of  Christian  education  commandments  and  laws 
which,  like  finger-posts  or  notice-boards,  make  it  easier  for 
the  young  Christian  to  find  his  whereabouts.1     Such  things 

1  "  It  is  very  important  that  the  commandment  be  rightly  explained  to 
the  catechumens,  and  the  contents  of  the  moral  law  urgently  set  before  them  ; 
the  law  must  be  to  them  a  schoolmaster,  all  the  more  that  hitherto  they 
have  lived  as  they  listed." 


282      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

are  useful  not  to  the  weak  members  of  the  community  only  ; 
the  advanced  Christians  are  grateful  when  such  distinct  fences 
are  erected,  and  they  constantly  ask  for  them.  We  all  know 
from  our  own  experience  that  one  of  the  most  important 
factors  in  the  Christian  education  of  men  to  moral  indepen- 
dence is  the  habit  of  doing  good.  We  should  over-estimate 
the  maturity  of  the  young  Christian  Avere  we  not  to  support 
him  in  the  good  by  a  control  of  his  conduct  somewhat  legal, 
strengthening  him  in  this  conflict.  Such  disciplinary  acts 
and  laws  cannot,  and  must  not,  be  used  to  replace  their  own 
moral  life ;  however  they  help  to  protect  the  budding  plant ; 
they  prop  it  up  amid  life's  storms.  But  above  all,  the 
Church  strengthens  and  fosters  the  religious  life  of  its  young 
members,  by  teaching  them  the  Word  of  God  in  sermons, 
Bible  readings,  and  hours  of  prayer,  by  putting  into  their 
hands  the  Bible  and  other  Christian  books.  The  stronger 
their  religious  life  grows,  the  more  zealous  Bible  readers  they 
become.  They  search  the  Scriptures  with  a  quickened  under- 
standing, and  find  in  them  forces  of  moral  and  religious  life. 
Bible  reading  is  a  necessity  to  every  better  heathen  Christian. 
Wherever  that  is  lacking,  religious  growth  and  moral  develop- 
ment are  alike  in  a  backward  state. 

It  is  instructive  to  observe  what  special  moral  excellences 
pertain  to  the  young  heathen  Christians.  Not  always, 
certainly,  but  very  frequently  we  meet  with  sincere  gratitude 
to  the  messenger  of  the  Gospel  for  the  Divine  gifts.  Many 
a  missionary  at  his  departure,  or  on  his  death-bed,  has  seen 
tears  of  gratitude  flow  from  his  coloured  converts.  The 
Niasser  Fetero  said  with  tears  at  the  departure  of  the 
missionary  Lett :  "If  I  had  to  bid  farewell  to  my  father  it 
would  not  be  so  bad  as  to  part  from  you ;  for  he  gave  me 
only  bodily  life,  but  you  brought  us  God's  Word,  the  eternal 
life  for  our  souls."  Another  Christian  wrote  to  him  :  "  My 
heart  ever  thinks  of  how  compassionate  you  were  that  night 
we  were  so  suddenly  taken  ill,  running  here  and  there  to 
get  medicine." x     Many  Battak  Christians  are  heartily  grateful 

1  Merensky  says  of  the  community  in  Bapediland  :   "Strict  abandonment 
of  heathenism,  watched  l>y  the  whole  community  of  Christians  and  catechu- 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    283 

to  their  spiritual  fathers,  and  many  would  give  their  lives 
for  the  missionary.  Such  gratitude,  no  usual  feature  in  the 
heathen  character,  is  easily  understood  when  we  bear  in 
mind  that  it  was  the  messenger's  loving-kindness  which  first 
made  an  impression  on  their  hearts,  and  that  it  was  through 
his  mediation  that  they  received  all  spiritual  and  many 
earthly  blessings. 

Further,  the  heathen  Christians,  though  certainly  not  all, 
are  celebrated  for  their  liberality.    "  Liberality  is  no  character- 
istic of  the  heathen  or  of  the  Mohammedans  of  the  Indian 
Archipelago  ;  and  when  we  hear  of  the  cheerful  and  hearty 
giving   of  the  Christians  in    Minahassa  we   infer  that  the 
Gospel  has  had  a  great  influence  on  them."     The  glad  giving 
of  the  few  Christians  in  Duma  and  Dutch  New  Guinea  is 
emphasised.      The    Battak    church    gives    a   comparatively 
large  sum   for  church   purposes,   building  of  churches  and 
schools,  support  of  teachers  and  preachers,  as  well  as  for  the 
mission,  and  gives  it  willingly.     In  the  year  1907  it  gave 
the   sum   of  £4350.      The    Betschuana   Christians  of    the 
Hermannsburg   Mission,    who   are   still    suffering   from   the 
after-throes  of  the  Boer  war,  subscribed  £35  for  the  starving 
Christians  in  India.     A  delightful  example  of  glad  giving  is 
reported   in   the   Banner   Missionary   Record   from    Otjim- 
bingwe:   to  meet  the  deficit  of  the  missionary  society  the 
mountain  Damra,  the  Bastards  and  the  Herero,  at  a  recent 
mission  festival,  brought  £150,  of  which  only  £35  came  from 
the  Europeans  of  the  place,  an  astonishing  performance  for 
people  who  have  not  yet  recovered  from  the  consequences 

of  the  war.1 

The  love  of  testifying  is  very  lively  everywhere  among 
heathen  Christians,  young  and  old.  Themselves  set  free 
from  the  bonds  of  demon  worship,  they  would  like  to  have 

mens  ;  longing  for  Christ  and  the  salvation  that  He  brought  expressed  in 
constant  prayer  and  hunger  for  the  Divine  Word ;  love  for  those  who  had  found 
the  narrow  way  ;  and  love,  trust,  gratitude  to  us  missionaries  which  often 
found  touching  expression  ;— these  were  the  gifts  of  grace  which  God  conferred 
on  not  a  few  of  this  awakened  people." 

1  Banner,  Missionsbl.,  1907,  p.  67  f.  Many  churches  in  Sumatra  have  also 
contributed  considerable  gifts  to  meet  the  deficit. 


284      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

all  the  enslaved  set  free.  All  who  have  known  the  true 
God,  and  experienced  His  love,  cannot  but  testify  of  all  they 
have  seen  and  heard.  But  we  have  already  spoken  of  this 
missionary  instinct  of  heathen  Christians.1 

We  also  meet  with  the  sense  of  kinship,  the  brotherly  love 
of  young  Christians.  Fellow  believers  soon  learn  to  look  on 
one  another  as  brethren.  According  to  heathen  notions, 
nothing  but  the  tie  of  blood  can  form  a  brotherly  union ;  the 
new  faith  in  the  one  God  and  Redeemer  creates  a  fellowship 
which  is  more  cordially  and  joyfully  cultivated  than  those 
ties  of  kindred.  Christians  are  one  great  family,  because 
they  know  that  they  are  all  subjects  of  one  kingdom,  of  which 
Jesus  is  Lord.  Wherever  Christians  meet  in  Battakland 
they  shake  each  other  by  the  hand ;  they  call  one  another 
dongan — companions,  friends — a  word  which  formerly  desig- 
nated members  of  the  same  tribe.  They  all  know  that  they 
belong  to  one  another.  They  rejoice  in  this  fellowship,  and 
like  to  contrast  the  condition  of  brotherly  love  with  the 
heathen  period  of  club  law,  when  every  man's  hand  was 
against  every  other.  "Formerly  wre  were  enemies,  but  now 
we  are  brethren."  This  confession  of  a  once  notorious  head- 
hunter  on  Nias  correctly  describes  the  new  situation.  Chris- 
tians from  the  west  and  east  of  Nias  like  to  visit  each  other 
and  strengthen  one  another's  faith.  Some  Christians  of 
Nias  set  out  even  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  their 
Christian  brethren  of  Sumatra,  and  be  refreshed  by  their 
fellowship.  Battak  Christians  have  also  visited  their  co- 
religionists in  Nias.  Kruyt  states  that  in  the  whole  of 
Dutch  East  India  the  Christians  fraternise  with  one  another. 
All  who  call  upon  the  same  God  are  recognised  as  comrades ; 

1  See  pp.  272  ff.  Cf.  the  missionary  zeal  of  the  Christians  of  Botschabelo 
(Merensky,  I.e.,  p.  312  f.).  Bnchner  :  "In  many  churches  of  South  Africa 
are  found  more,  in  others  fewer,  but  in  all  some  who,  of  their  own  impulse, 
testify  of  their  experience  of  salvation  sometimes  in  their  heathen  and  some- 
times in  their  Christian  surroundings."  The  same  thing  is  found  among  the 
Karens  Christians.  It  is  said  of  their  preachers  :  ' '  Persecution  does  not 
discourage,  punishment  and  imprisonment  do  not  terrify  them.  The  spread 
of  the  Gospel  and  the  salvation  of  their  people  is  their  one  thought  day  and 
night." 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    285 

the  inhabitants  of  the  most  diverse  islands  visit  one  another 
and  shake  hands.  In  the  whole  of  Dutch  East  India 
Christians  welcome  each  other. 

Such  characteristics  show  how  the  idea  of  the  unity  of 
the  human  race  dawns  quite  naturally  on  the  redeemed 
heathen  Christians.1  Separated  formerly  from  other  peoples 
by  religion  and  custom,  they  regarded  themselves,  in  their 
conceit,  as  the  only  men.  Every  tribe  had  its  own  story  of 
creation.  They  were  separated  from  the  white  men  by  an 
unbridgeable  gulf.  As  Christians,  they  regard  not  only  their 
fellow  tribesmen  and  other  fellow  countrymen  as  brothers, 
but  also  all  coloured  men,  and  all  Europeans.  On  this  point 
they  have  absolute  belief  in  the  Bible  ;  but  it  is  Jesus  rather 
than  the  record  of  creation  who  has  convinced  them  that 
they  are  children  of  the  one  Father.  Hence  their  national 
and  social  barriers  need  not  be  broken  down.  The  native 
Christian  is  obedient  to  his  chief,  and  shows  due  respect  to 
the  European.  But  prejudices  are  overcome,  conceit  on  the 
one  hand  and  slavish  subjection  on  the  other.  The  breaker 
of  all  bonds  has  thrown  down  this  wall  also. 

All  the  better  heathen  Christians  display  the  courage  of 
glad  confessors.2  It  is  to  them  a  necessity  to  testify  to 
what  they  have  found  in  the  Saviour,  and  many  of  them 
are  ready  to  suffer,  and,  if  need  be,  to  die  for  their  testimony. 
Tropical  people  have  a  certain  natural  capacity  for  the  yoke, 
and  for  enduring  suffering,  often  due  to  lack  of  energy. 
This  is  ennobled  by  Christianity.  The  heather!  Christian 
has  gained  a  conviction,  based  upon  experience,  which  is 
strong  enough  to  endure  considerable  burdens,  which  is  even 
strengthened  by  suffering  for  Jesus'  sake.  The  sufferings 
endured  by  the  young  Christians  of  Madagascar  for  their 

1  Ellis,  the  missionary  on  Madagascar,  found  "that,  in  spite  of  all 
difference  of  climate,  colour,  language,  and  degree  of  culture,  Christianity 
made  men  see  that  they  all  belonged  to  one  family. 

2  "  The  earnestness  and  fearlessness  with  which  the  first  Bapedi  Christians 
were  ready  to  confess  their  faith  by  deeds,  and  their  fear  of  being  con- 
taminated with  heathen  conduct,  made  a  deep  impression  on  us.  Such 
courage  in  confession  under  serious  sufferings  was  given  at  a  later  period  to 
this  whole  community." 


286      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

faith  are  well  known,  as  also  those  of  the  Waganda,  and 
those  of  China  during  the  Boxer  rising.1  In  every  mission 
field  the  first  converts  have  much  to  surfer ;  they  are  driven 
from  houses  and  villages ;  they  lose  their  fields ;  they  are 
slandered,  persecuted,  hated,  shunned.  The  heathen  Chris- 
tian finds  it  easier  to  suffer  quietly  and  die  cheerfully  than 
the  average  Christian  in  Christendom.  He  is  helped  to  do 
so  by  his  direct  childlike  relation  to  his  God.  Uncon- 
scious remains  of  old  fatalism  may  also  be  at  work  in  the 
matter. 

The  judgment  of  Buchner,  who  had  a  most  accurate 
knowledge  of  South  African  missions,  upon  the  moral 
condition  of-  heathen  Christian  communities,  is :  "  If  we 
ask  about  their  Christian  patience,  their  quiet  endurance  of 
suffering,  and  their  childlike  trust  in  God  in  trouble,  we  are 
confronted  with  a  very  pleasing  picture.  I  do  not  think 
I  am  saying  too  much  when  I  assert  that  on  this  point 
our  heathen  Christians  are  far  superior  to  our  European 
Christians.  Their  patience  in  trouble,  their  glorying  in 
tribulation,  their  maturity  in  the  precious  fruits  of  such 
submissions.  ...  I  have  not  once  but  many  times  had 
occasion  to  witness,  and  in  a  manner  that  is  very  rare 
in  Christendom."  "  Visit  the  deathbed  of  our  Christian 
and  you  will  see — and  often  where  you  had  not  expected 
it — the  man  departing  with  glad  confidence  and  childlike 
joy,  and  that  among  those  who,  as  heathen,  were  in  a 
very  special  sense  in  bondage  through  the  fear  of  death, 
so  that  the  heathen  Christians  often  seem  to  be  far  in 
advance  of  us  in  the  joy  and  delight  of  departing  to  be 
with  Christ." 

If  we  add  their  delight  in  prayer  and  their  childlike 
trust  in  God,  we  have,  in  some  measure,  given  a  complete 
picture  of  the  bright  side  of  the  heart  renewal.  Every 
moral  excellence  flows  from  the  unique  relation  they  have 
gained   to   God   their   Redeemer   and  loving  Father.     The 

1  It  is  reported  of  the  Kols  that  they  stood  true  in  persecution,  although 
many  of  them  had  been  at  first  drawn  to  Christianity  through  social  con- 
siderations. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    287 

moral  transformation  is  produced  by  the  same  power. 
The  more  they  are  regenerated  religiously,  the  more  are 
they  transformed  morally :  Lo,  I  make  all  things  new. 
But  even  more  important  than  particular  outstanding 
virtues  is  the  fact  that  there  is  formed  a  Christian  public 
opinion,  a  national  conscience.  Where  men  formerly 
boasted  of  their  infamous  deeds,  they  are  now  ashamed 
of  them,  and  the  evildoer  is  compelled  to  secrecy.  Christian 
law  and  custom  take  the  place  of  caprice.  "  The  power  of 
public  opinion  on  Minahassa  is  unspeakably  great,  and  has 
a  much  greater  influence  than  the  exhortations  of  the 
missionary."  The  weak  individual  is  borne  up  by  public 
opinion,  and  a  fixed  standard  is  put  into  the  hand  of 
those  who  are  morally  wavering.  As  a  national  conscience 
it  helps  to  form  the  personal  conscience  of  the  average 
Christian,  and  thus  becomes  an  important  factor  in  the 
training  of  the  people. 

In  an  essay  on  "the  right  estimate  of  the  apostolic 
communities  as  presented  in  the  New  Testament,"  K'ahler 
reaches  results  which  are  in  essential  agreement  with  the 
experience  of  missionaries  in  the  mission  fields  of  to-day. 
He  extols  the  faith  of  the  apostolic  communities,  their 
experience  of  the  living  God,  their  assurance  of  the  new 
life,  "  possessions  that  are  not  quickly  relinquished  .  .  . 
however  hard  it  may  be  to  ascertain  and  carry  out  in  the 
varied  relations  of  public  life  their  implications  for  conduct." 
He  emphasises,  further,  their  brotherly  love  which  "  recog- 
nises all  believers  as  brethren,"  and  the  joyousness  of  their 
hope.  The  excellences  of  apostolic  Christians  lie  in  the 
religious,  not  the  ethical  region.  The  strong  contrast  to 
their  former  mode  of  life,  after  the  maimer  of  their  fathers, 
was  able  to  disturb  their  equilibrium  and  actually  did  so. 
"As  the  one  great  revolution  had  been  effected  in  their 
fundamental  relation  to  God  and  man,  it  was  now  neces- 
sary to  restore  the  equilibrium  with  the  view  of  assuming 
an  attitude  towards  the  things  of  the  world  and  towards 
them  that  are  without."  "The  familiar  customs  in  the 
midst  of  which  they  live  have  the  force  of  rooted  habit ; 


288      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

consequently,  they  do  not  often  ask  themselves  whether 
anything  is  right,  because  they  fall  back  into  the  old  ways 
without  reflection  and  without  hesitation.  But,  should 
they  reflect,  they  are  still  a  long  way  from  any  clear  and 
sure  estimate  of  an  ancestral  custom.  For  these  customs 
not  infrequently  are  involved  in  the  very  structure  of 
society."  In  our  endeavour  rightly  to  appreciate  the  very 
conspicuous  defects  of  heathen  Christians,  their  manifold 
contentions,  their  sensuality,  their  love  of  gain,  we  must 
put  ourselves  to  school,  to  Paul,  strict  censor  of  spiritual 
things,  and  learn  to  estimate  the  Divine  influences,  not 
from  the  shortcomings  in  the  way  of  perfection,  but  from 
the  change  between  what  was  and  what  is,  interpreted 
in  the  light  of  the  motives.  We  can  apply  such  a  test 
pretty  fully  to  most  of  the  mission  fields  of  to-day.  The 
results  of  Kahler's  inquiries  are  virtually  the  same  as  the 
missionaries'  experiences.  They  justify  us  in  finding  in 
the  apostolic  experience  a  confirmation  of  the  reality 
of  like  events  in  the  religious  life  of  modern  converts  from 
heathenism,  and  of  the  moral  renewal  which  their  new 
religious  life  produces  in  them,  although  that  moral  renewal 
does  not  always  keep  step  with  the  religious  progress. 
The  whole  story  is  to  be  interpreted  by  those  laws  which 
regulate  the  dependence  of  moral  enlightenment  on  religious 
life ;  those  powers  which  everywhere  and  always  must  feed 
the  life-giving  root,  then  fashion  the  young  shoot,  and,  last 
of  all,  bring  to  maturity  the  flowers  and  the  fruits. 

The  peculiar  excellences  of  heathen  Christians  are  opposed 
by  peculiar  moral  defects  ;  these  are  difficult  to  remove, 
because  deeply  rooted  in  the  national  character.  As  in 
the  apostolic  communities,  we  find  the  young  heathen 
Christians  of  most  mission  fields  very  heavily  burdened 
with  sins  of  the  flesh.  Missionaries  often  lament  their 
inability  to  awaken  a  right  feeling  in  this  matter.  The 
physician  of  souls  should  see  in  these  sins  a  burden  of 
heredity. 

Lying  cannot  be  at  once  abolished  among  people  over 
whom    it  has   had    such    a    mighty    sway.       Most    mission 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    289 

churches  have  to  contend  with  much  mendacity,  dishonesty, 
fraud,  and  insincerity  on  the  part  of  their  members.  There 
is  also  much  litigiousness,  quarrelsomeness,  pride,  intriguing 
for  leadership  or  government  employment,  and  national  vices, 
very  difficult  to  overcome.  Any  one  among  them  who,  for 
God's  sake,  forgives  an  enemy,  or  gives  up  a  law  suit, 
evinces  a  humility  which  testifies  to  a  very  thorough  heart 
renewal.  Lack  of  energy  is  a  quality  not  easily  dispelled  by 
the  Gospel.  Even  the  Indonesian  heathen  Christians,  men 
rejoicing  in  their  reconciliation  with  God,  remain  without 
initiative  waiting  on  nature  ;  that,  perhaps,  will  change  very 
slowly.  Among  the  defects  of  heathen  Christians  of  the 
Indian  Archipelago  is  a  certain  instability  of  character, 
which  makes  them  prone  to  slacken  in  their  moral  efforts, 
and  makes  their  moral  life  necessarily  uneven.  Frequently, 
we  have  to  lament  the  want  of  active  love,  practical  com- 
passion, and  heart-felt  sympathy  among  heathen  Christians  ; 
also  earthly-mindedness,  a  too  great  eagerness  for  full 
barns,  as  well  as  for  spiritual  blessings  from  the  Gospel. 
All  these  defects  will  be  easily  understood  by  one  who 
judges  rightly.  The  experiences  of  foreign  missions  warn 
us  not  to  idealise  the  moral  state  of  the  apostolic 
communities. 

It  cannot  but  surprise  us,  however,  to  find  that  relapses 
into  heathenism,  more  or  less  gross,  are  not  rare.  We  come 
upon  them  chiefly  among  those  Christians  who  simply 
followed  the  lead  of  their  companions,  expecting  mainly 
from  Christianity  an  improvement  in  the  outward  condition 
of  their  life,  and  who  suffered  a  great  disappointment.  But 
it  happens  not  only  among  the  hangers  on,  the  annoyances 
of  every  growing  mission.  Mostly,  the  relapse  is  due  to  fine 
threads  binding  still  subtly  and  unconsciously  the  heathen 
Christian  to  the  heathen  world  of  thought.  The  animistic 
view  of  the  world  underlying  heathenism,  remember,  is  not 
removed  from  their  heart  by  turning  away  from  idols.  The 
animistic  doctrine  of  souls  cannot  be  at  once  relegated  to  a 
museum  of  antiquities ;  it  is  living  still,  and  seeks  to  enter 
into  union  with  Christian  thought.  The  young  Christian 
T 


290      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

wishes  to  break  wholly  with  the  animistic  view  of  the  world; 
but,  in  practice,  his  thought  and  his  feeling  are  still  easily 
influenced  by  the  aroixeia  rov  koct/xov.  A  man's  name  is 
even  to  the  Christian  no  mere  word ;  they  do  not  willingly 
utter  the  names  of  relatives.  Christian  mothers  still  like  to 
give  their  child  a  "  soul  garment,"  never  considering  what 
they  are  doing ;  Christians  involuntarily  avoid  pronouncing 
the  name  of  a  sick  person.  Many  Christian  fathers  allow 
their  hair  to  grow  while  expecting  an  addition  to  their 
families,  etc.1  Belief  in  the  power  of  hostile  enchantments 
is  still  general.2  Such  contraband  of  thought,  smuggled 
from  the  enemy's  camp,  must  be  vigorously  opposed,  but  it 
should  not  be  too  severely  judged.3 

Among  those  who  have  broken  with  spirit  worship  are 
many,  who,  unconsciously,  observe  those  superstitious  usages 
without  discerning  their  connection  with  heathen  religion. 
Thousands  of  actions  and  prohibitions,  of  whose  origin  and 
aim  no  one  can  give  any  account,  have  been  stamped  by 
long  custom  as  laws  of  conduct  or  rules  of  decorum  for  daily 
life.     Whenever  the  missionary  enlightens  them    as   to   the 

1  Schreiber  gives  a  number  of  such  usages,  based  on  Animism,  from  among 
the  older  and  younger  Christians  of  the  Indian  Archipelago.  "  Die 
inlandischen  Christengemeinden  des  Indischen  Archipel.,  a.m.z.,  1883, 
p.  260  f. 

2  A  unique  proof  of  how  animistic  sorcery  makes  itself  at  home  in 
Christianity  is  found  among  the  Bush  negroes.  If  any  one  is  robbed,  and 
does  not  know  the  thief,  he  brings  candles  into  the  Catholic  Church,  and 
firmly  believes  that  the  thief  will  lose  his  life  as  the  candles  are  being 
gradually  burned  (Missionsbl.  der  Brudergemeinde,  1907,  p.  179). 

3  The  essay  of  a  Battak  teacher,  which  recently  appeared  in  their  monthly 
record,  was  to  me  a  pleasing  sign  of  how  the  Battak  Christians  recognise 
and  resist  the  danger  of  Animism.  The  author  points  to  "a  worm  in 
Christendom,"  meaning,  thereby,  the  notion  of  the  soul,  which  is  still  pre- 
valent among  Christians.  Many  continue  to  believe  that  souls  are  magically 
influenced  for  good  or  evil.  A  child  thrives  if  the  soul  of  the  mother  guards 
it ;  the  woman  owes  it  to  her  own  soul  that  she  is  pregnant  ;  happiness  and 
unhappiness  come  from  the  soul  ;  it  is  frequently  supposed  that  the  soul  has 
chosen  its  lot ;  fatalism  still  rules  thought  far  too  much.  The  seeking 
for  a  lucky  name  and  such  like  is  also  denounced.  One  sees  how  the  Animist 
finds  it  very  difficult  to  change  his  way  of  thinking,  even  though  he  has  the 
will  to  do  SO.  The  struggle  of  Christians  against  these  notions  is  a  plainer 
proof  of  the  power  of  the  Gospel  than  the  conquering  of  particular  sins. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    291 

dangerous  connection  of  the  superstitious  usages,1  tliey  are 
mostly  quite  ready  to  give  them  up ;  they  are  also  ready  to 
take  part  in  tracking  out  the  little  enemies  and  instructing 
their  brethren  about  them.  Sincere  Christians  are  really 
earnest  in  their  efforts  to  purge  out  the  old  leaven.  In 
conferences  of  Battak  teachers  and  preachers  we  have  asked, 
and  obtained,  reports  concerning  these  remains  of  heathen 
superstition  still  found  in  the  Christian  communities.  We 
discovered  many  more  of  them  than  we,  or  our  helpers, 
imagined,  but  we  also  succeeded  in  opening  the  eyes  of 
the  better  Christians  to  them;  and  now,  in  all  our  com- 
munities, the  enemy  is  hunted  from  his  hiding-place,  and 
vigorously  suppressed.  We  may  reckon  it  among  the  most 
genuine  conquests  of  the  Gospel,  that  it  not  only  overthrows 
idols,  shatters  magic  implements,  removes  the  abomination  of 
idolatry,  but  that  with  long  patient  labour  it  succeeds  in 
exposing  and  pulling  up  the  roots  of  superstition,  even  to 
their  minutest  suckers,  and  that  heathen  Christians  are  eager 
and  unwearied  in  this  toil. 

We  must  also  bear  in  mind  that  Christians  are  in  danger 
of  forming  magical  notions  of  the  Christian  religion  similar 
to  their  old  notions  of  their  own  heathen  religion.  That 
sometimes  finds  expression  in  the  celebration  of  baptism 
and  the  Lord's  Supper.2     Animists  are  very  apt  to  connect 

:That  is  not  always  such  a  simple  matter.  Is  tatooing,  e.g.,  to  be  for- 
bidden as  heathenish  ?  We  have  no  right  to  forbid  it,  save  where  it  has  a 
heathen  basis.  It  is  the  same  with  teeth  riling,  with  certain  presents, 
marriage  usages,  festivals  for  the  dead,  etc.  Opinions  differ  much  in  these 
and  such  like  questions.  One  declares  that  such  customs  are  harmless,  and 
their  suppression  a  brutal  abuse  of  missionary  authority  ;  another  sees  in 
them  bonds  of  heathenism,  which,  in  all  circumstances,  muet  be  severed. 
Many  such  usages  also,  though  animistic  in  their  origin,  have  lost  all 
heathen  significance.  Such,  for  example,  are  bodily  ornaments,  which  were, 
in  all  likelihood,  originally  amulets  (c/.  Wundt,  I.e.,  p.  56).  There  is  no 
longer  any  need  to  fight  against  such  things  as  these. 

2  Among  the  Christians  of  Dutch  East  India,  in  the  days  of  the  East 
India  Company,  it  appeared  that  any  one  who  could  not  himself  be  present 
at  the  Lord's  Supper,' sent  his  slaves  as  substitutes  ;  that  the  Ambonesian 
Christians  did  not  eat  the  bread  at  the  Supper,  but  took  it  home  and  used 
it  afterwards  as  a  kind  of  charm.  A  black  pastor  on  the  Gold  Coast 
observed   that  the  communicants  retained  the  communion  cards  in  order 


292      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

the  partaking  of  Christ's  body  and  blood  with  the  old  notion 
of  appropriating  the  soul-stuff  of  another  by  eating  it.     The 
fear  of  coining  to  the  Lord's  Table  which  we  find  in  most 
heathen  Christian  communities  is  not  always  the  outcome 
of    pious    reverence.       Many    heathen    Christians    ascribe 
magical    powers    to   the   New   Testament.      These   are   all 
children's  ailments  belonging  to  the  period  of  growth,  and 
if  taken  at  the  right  time,  and  treated  rightly,  can  be  got 
over.     No  foreign  missionary  will  palliate  or  explain  away 
these   defects,  but  he  will    remember   that   defects   adhere 
to    all   Christians,   even   to  those  far  in   advance   of  those 
tyros  who    have   hardly  yet   made  their  own  the  ABC 
of    redemption.       He   will    also    discover    to    his    comfort, 
though  not  to  the  excusing  of  his  heathen  Christians,  that 
even  in  the  apostolic  communities  subtle  and  gross  sins  of 
a  similar  kind  not  only  appeared,  but  were  often  hardly 
felt  or  denounced  as  sins  by  the  community.      Above  all, 
he  will  remind  himself  that  religious  renewal  always  pre- 
cedes moral  renewal,  and  keeps  in  advance  of  it.     Utschi- 
mura  exhorts  missionaries  who  go  to  Japan :    "  When  you 
come  to   us,  come  with    a   healthy,  human  understanding, 
and  sober  views.     Do  not  imagine  that  a  people  can  be 
converted   in   a   day.     You  will   find  things  as  sober  and 
prosaic  among  us  as  elsewhere ;  even  among  us  men  doubt, 
dissemble,  and  stumble."1 

The  real  falling  away  from  Christianity  is  a  return  to 
spirit  worship,  and  it  must  be  very  differently  assessed. 
Conscious  apostasy  is  rare  in  heathen  Christian  com- 
munities, most  rare  in  the  case  of  those  who  were 
personally  convinced  Christians.  When  it  does  take  place 
it  is  generally  the  penalty,  the  natural  and  inevitable  con- 
sequence, of  having  failed  to  maintain  the  gift  already 
received.     Yet  even  here  we  must  beware  of  judging  too 

to  put  them  into  the  hands  of  the  dying,  as  a  kind  of  pass  into  heaven,  and 
that  in  like  manner  the  baptismal  water  was  not  emptied  out  in  any  one's 
presence.  Again  and  again,  writes  Missionary  Giess,  one  must  call  upon 
the  Chinese  at  the  Lord's  Supper,  eat,  eat,  because  they  want  to  conceal  the 
bread  in  their  sleeve  and  use  it  for  superstitious  purposes. 
1  TJtschiniura.  I.e.,  p.  122. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    293 

severely.  We  must  not  forget  the  fearful  power  of  the 
enticement.  When  a  drunkard  has  abjured  his  vice  his 
companions  take  a  fiendish  joy  in  seeking  to  entice  him 
back,  and  although  almost  saved,  although  conscious  of 
new  powers,  he  may  yet  succumb  to  their  infernal  urgings. 
The  heathen  entice,  and  urge  with  threats,  their  com- 
panions to  come  back  to  them.1 

In  particular  their  relatives  do  all  in  their  power  to 
seduce  those  who  have  departed  from  the  ways  of  their 
fathers.  Imagine  the  situation  of  a  widow  who  belongs 
to  the  family  of  her  dead  husband,  because  she  became 
a  wife  by  purchase.  How  hard  must  it  not  be  for  her 
to  remain  true  to  her  faith  when  the  whole  of  her  relations, 
from  whom  she  cannot  get  free,  are  heathen,  and  wish  to 
force  on  her  a  heathen  husband !  But  any  one  who  proves 
weak,  and  is  prevailed  upon  to  take  part  again  in  a  heathen 
sacrifice,  or  in  sorceries,  verifies  the  words  of  Jesus  about 
the  house  swept  and  garnished,  and  the  evil  spirit  who 
returned ;  the  last  state  of  that  man  is  worse  than  the 
first.  If  formerly  he  was  a  thoughtless  idolater,  he  is 
now  for  the  most  part  a  conscious  enemy  of  Christianity. 
Such  a  deserter  has  far  greater  difficulty  in  returning  to 
salvation,  and  the  more  conscious  the  fall  the  more  difficult 
is  the  return.  The  power  of  the  evangelic  gift  is  seen 
here ;  like  every  great  gift,  it  must  not  be  trifled  with. 
With  pitiless  certainty  it  becomes  a  power  unto  death  to 
those  who  have  once  tasted  of  its  blessings  and  then  rejects 
them.  The  early  Church  was  right  in  maintaining  that 
apostasy  from   the   living   God,   after   a   saving   knowledge 

1  "The  African  heathen  who  would  become  a  Christian  has  to  wage  a 
fearful  battle.  At  every  step  heathenism  holds  him  with  bands  that  seem 
as  if  they  could  not  be  broken.  He  has  to  take  part  in  the  usages  of  sorcery, 
even  though  he  has  ceased  to  believe  in  them,  for  the  king  has  commanded 
it.  His  own  kindred  shun  him  as  unclean.  His  companions  use  filthy, 
obscene  language,  and  sometimes  ridicule  what  he  deems  sacred.  His  own 
parents  perhaps  curse  him  because  he  has  brought  them  into  disgrace  and 
danger,  and  if  he  is  fortunate  enough  to  have  a  Christian  wife,  man  and 
wife  must  look  forward  with  terror  to  the  time  when  the  heathen  will  claim 
their  children,  and  drag  them  to  dissolute  Coma-argien "  (Merensky,  I.e., 
p.  152). 


294      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

of  Him,  was  the  one  sin  that  could  not  be  forgiven. 
Rarely  does  such  a  man  seek  Divine  forgiveness.  Even 
the  heathen  feel  the  gravity  of  such  guilt,  and  are  afraid 
of  it. 

To  proclaim  to  the  heathen  the  living  God  and  Redeemer ; 
to  wait  in  patience  till  experience  makes  Him  known  ;  then 
to  wait  again  till  the  moral  germs  theie  sown  within  the 
heart  spring  up,  and  finally  to  foster  carefully  the  tender 
growing  plants — that  is  the  method  blessed  by  God  in  the 
mission  work  of  the  early  Church,  and  blessed  by  Him  in 
the  foreign  mission  work  of  to-day.  First  the  gift,  then 
duty  ;  first  the  seed,  then  fruit ;  first  the  religious  power, 
then  moral  application  of  the  power ;  first  God  the  Saviour, 
then  the  Divine  example.  Morals  rise  to  the  call  of  the 
religious  life.  From  the  constancy  of  these  facts  we  may 
deduce  the  law  that  true  moral  life  springs  only  from  the 
religious  life.  A  right  relation  to  God  always  issues  in 
right  moral  conduct.  Jesus  Himself  has  formulated  this 
natural  law  in  the  spiritual  world  :  he  that  abideth  in  Me 
and  I  in  him,  the  same  bringeth  forth  much  fruit,  for  without 
Me  ye  can  do  nothing. 

The  Gospel  has  carried  faith  and  love  into  the  cold,  torpid 
heathen  world;  crowning  all,  it  offers  the  gift  of  hope  in 
a  life  of  future  blessedness.  The  animistic  heathen  finds  in 
earthly  things  the  highest  blessings.  If  he  is  religious  he 
has  the  same  interest  in  this  world  ;  he  expects  his  religion 
to  give  him  the  blessings  of  this  life.1  When  the  heathen 
hears  Christianity  extolled  as  the  true  religion,  he  asks,  Can 
you  guarantee  that  we  shall  not  die  if  we  become  Christians  ? 2 
The  Papuans  said  to  Van  Hasselt  that  they  would  only 
become  Christians  if  the  missionaries  could  pray  so  as  to 
raise  the  dead.     Hence  the  ever- recurring  question  of  the 

1  See  pp.  130-132. 

-  An  old  man  in  Toniasa  said  to  Kruyt :  "If  you  cannot  promise  us 
a  longer  life  on  earth,  it  is  manifest  that  Christianity  and  heathenism  are 
alike."  On  the  death  of  some  Christians  in  Dutch  New  Guinea  the  heathen 
said  :  "  What  a  stupid  thing  it  is  to  become  a  Christian  ;  Christians  die  like 
ourselves."     Similar  sayings  may  lie  often  heard  in  Sumatra. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    295 

heathen  to  the  missionaries  :  What  will  you  give  us  if  we 
become  Christians,  or  if  we  send  our  children  to  school  ? 
The  people  of  Nias  asked  the  missionary  Thomas :  What 
advantage  shall  we  gain  in  leaving  our  work  and  going  to 
church  ?  The  public  school  was  not  popular  at  first  on  Nias 
because  "  it  did  not  make  the  swine  fatter."  The  heathen 
thinks  of  the  other  world  with  horror — as  a  land  of  shadows. 
The  present  life  alone  is  valuable.  The  utter  hopelessness  of 
heathenism  is  shown  in  the  face  of  death  and  in  their  sorrow 
for  the  departed.  If  you  speak  to  a  Battak  heathen  about 
dying  he  cries  out  in  terror :  Palias,  that  be  far  from  me  ! 
However  miserable  and  wretched  the  life  of  the  poorest  may 
be,  it  is  always  much  too  precious  to  be  exchanged  for 
existence  in  the  kingdom  of  the  dead. 

What  a  different  world  is  disclosed  to  these  hopeless  heathen 
by  the  message  of  the  Gospel !  Beyond  death  an  eternal 
life  richer  than  the  present ;  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God,  the  first 
fruits  from  the  dead,  now  enthroned  in  heaven,  whence  He 
will  come  again  to  give  perfect  life  and  blessedness  to  all 
who  have  believed  in  Him.  Between  the  animistic  concep- 
tion of  the  other  world  and  this  there  is  no  spanning  bridge. 
We  need  not  wonder  then  that  the  heathen  do  not  at 
first  believe  this  part  of  the  Gospel  message,  and  that  they 
oppose  to  it  an  uncomprehending  blank.1  The  young 
missionary  not  yet  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  desire 
of  heathenism  for  a  present  salvation  here  and  now,  thinks 
perhaps  that  the  message  of  the  resurrection  and  eternal  life 
cannot  fail  to  lighten  up  the  cheerless  heathen  gloom.     But 

1  Missionaries  constantly  see  that  the  message  of  a  future  life  calls  forth 
wonder  and  attention.  The  preaching  of  eternal  life,  the  coming  again  of 
Jesus,  and  the  final  judgment,  made  an  impression  on  the  Papuans  of  Kaiser- 
Williamsland.  It  is  said  that  this  message,  joined  to  an  appeal  to  their 
conscience,  found  a  way  to  their  hard  hearts.  The  message  about  the  home 
of  the  soul  where  we  shall  meet  again,  and  about  the  heavenly  village,  had  a 
strong  attraction  for  the  otherwise  insusceptible  ;  also  the  preaching  of 
Christ's  second  coming,  when  all  men  shall  come  forth  from  their  graves,  and 
the  message  of  the  final  judgment.  But  notwithstanding  the  occasional 
impression,  it  was  not  successful  in  leading  the  heathen  Papuans  to  the 
Gospel.     They  continued  to  reject  it. 


296      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

in  most  cases  that  is  not  so.1  In  an  essay  on  this  subject 
a  Battak  catechist  says :  "  The  message  about  eternal  life 
has  a  difficulty  in  getting  into  a  heathen  heart.  They  say, 
that  is  very  beautiful,  but  no  one  can  know  whether  it  is 
true.  When  they  hear  of  the  final  judgment  they  are  terrified 
for  the  moment,  but  the  fear  soon  passes  away.  They  are 
people  with  short  thoughts  and  cannot  see  far."  The  hearers 
shake  their  heads,  incredulous  as  the  Athenian  philosophers 
when  Paul  spoke  to  theni  about  the  resurrection.  This  is 
perhaps  to  the  heathen  the  strangest  part  of  the  Gospel 
message,  for  it  turns  upside  down  his  animistic  world  of 
thought.2 

The  acceptance  and  estimation  of  this  Gospel  gift  demands 
preparation  which  is  furnished  by  their  experience  of  the 
living  God.  The  heathen  Christian  learns  that  with  Him 
nothing  is  impossible  ;  he  gains  confidence  in  Him  and  tastes 
His  love  in  Jesus  Christ.  The  assurance  that  even  death 
cannot  destroy  this  communion  has  then  a  pleasing  sound  to 
him.  He  knows  from  Bible  history  that  Jesus  is  Lord  over 
death  ;  in  the  life  of  prayer  and  of  faith  he  daily  learns  that 
though  He  was  dead  He  is  now  alive  and  nigh  to  him.  If 
he  has  personal  communion  with  Jesus,  and  desires  to  follow 
on  to  know  the  Lord,  the  words  about  eternal  life  no  longer 

1  "  I  shall  never  forget  the  feeling  of  dismay  that  came  to  me  once  after 
speaking  with  fervour  on  the  raising  of  Lazarus.  The  story  was  listened  to 
with  reverent  attention,  but  at  the  close  of  the  meeting  an  old  lady  of  rank 
said  :  '  So  that  is  how  things  happen  among  you  that  the  dead  become  alive. 
That  clocs  not  happen  among  us,' and  immediately  passed  on  to  speak  of 
things  of  daily  life"  (Kruyt,  "Inlander,"  p.  88).  A  Battak  heathen  chief  said 
to  Reitze  the  missionary,  "  All  that  you  say  is  good  and  beautiful,  but  I  can- 
not believe  what  you  have  said  about  the  resurrection  from  the  dead." 

2  That  shows  that  the  animistic  view  of  the  world  is  more  deeply  rooted  in 
the  heart  of  the  heathen  than  belief  in  the  gods.  The  latter  is  overthrown 
wit  hunt  difficulty  by  the  proclamation  of  the  new  faith  ;  but  the  message  of 
the  resurrection  is  believed  with  the  greatest  difficulty,  because  it  assails  the 
animistic  view  of  the  world.  The  announcement  of  eternal  life  is  the  only 
poinl  in  the  Gospel  message  which  the  heathen  meets  with  doubt.  "The 
idea  of  a  reawakening  of  the  body  already  reduced  to  dust,  an  idea  that 
is  mystical  in  its  inmost  nature,  because  perceptible  to  the  reason  only  in  the 
form  of  a  sudden  new  creation,  is  entirely  alien  to  primitive  thought" 
(Wundt,  I.e.,  p.  64). 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    297 

appear  strange  to  him ;  on  the  contrary,  they  become  a 
postulate  of  faith.  It  is  only  Jesus  who  enables  the  heathen 
to  appropriate  the  promise  of  eternal  life.  Their  notions  of 
the  life  after  death  are  inverted  only  because  they  have  come 
to  know  God  and  His  love  in  Jesus,  because  they  are  in  close 
communion  with  Him,  and  believe  in  His  death  and  resurrec- 
tion.1 Only  those  heathen  Christians  who  have  experienced 
Jesus  as  Saviour  are  convinced  of  the  eternal  life.  The  tyro 
Christians  make  little  of  the  gift  of  future  life  which  is 
surpassed  in  their  estimation  by  the  gifts  of  the  present, 
their  deliverance,  the  omnipotence  and  goodness  of  the  Great 
God. 

Hence  we  can  easily  understand  that  the  article  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead  is  still  strange  to  many  Battak 
Christians.  We  missionaries  have  been  grieved  to  see  that 
many  of  the  baptised  cannot  really  believe  that  man's  body 
is  to  come  forth  from  the  grave  at  God's  command  and 
receive  a  glorified  life.2  Any  one  who  knows  the  members  of 
his  community  will  observe  that  the  doubters  are  those  who 
have  not  yet  laid  hold  of  Jesus  as  the  Saviour.  The  vision 
of  heaven  can  only  be  seen  from  the  holiest  of  all.  No  man 
can  see  heaven  opened  unless  he  knows  the  Son  of  Man  at 
the  right  hand  of  God.  So  long  as  the  heathen  Christian 
has  little  or  no  fellowship  with  Jesus,  he  is  hampered  by  the 
animistic  world  of  thought,  even  though  he  has  broken  with 
idolatry  and  spirit  worship.  Animists  believe  that  man's 
soul  returns  at  death  to  the  all-soul ;  it  is  a  matter  or  power 
of  this  present  world.  What  of  man  continues  to  exist  after 
death  is  the  ghostlike  shadow  of  his  personality.  As  long  as 
the  native  clings  to  these  ideas  he  is  unable  to  conceive  how 
the  "  soul "  of  man  is  to  obtain  a  new  body  in  a  more  perfect 
state  of  existence.  The  shadow  of  the  dead  in  the  other 
world  cannot  receive  a  body.    The  Animist  laughs  at  any  one 

1  Paul  argues  thus  agaiust  the  doubters  in  the  church  at  Corinth. 
Believing,  as  they  do,  in  the  bodily  resurrection  of  Jesus,  they  must  change 
their  notions  about  the  life  of  believers  after  death. 

2  The  naivete  with  which  they  avow  this  doubt  justifies  the  inference  that 
they  really  believe  all  other  articles  of  faitli  which  they  do  not  expressly 
question.     They  would  otherwise  avow  their  suspicions. 


298      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

who  seeks  to  correct  him  on  this  subject.1  But  if  the 
heathen  has  had  experience  of  God's  love  in  Christ — it  must 
needs  be  an  experience — he  will  know  instinctively  that  the 
truth  about  man's  soul  is  different  from  what  he  formerly 
believed  ;  that  the  soul  is  an  object  of  Divine  love,  some- 
thing personal,  precious,  immortal ;  that  it  will  live  for  ever, 
and  can  be  reclothed  with  a  new  and  better  body  because  it 
has  entered  into  union  with  God.  Those  who  have  turned 
from  idols  to  God  are  now  so  intimately  united  with  Him 
that  they  wait  for  the  coming  of  His  son  from  heaven,  who 
will  complete  their  fellowship  with  Him  (1  Thess.  i.  9  f.). 
The  hope  of  eternal  life  opens  up  to  the  young  Christian  so 
far  as  he  has  Christ.  The  more  intimate  the  relation  to 
Christ  the  more  vivid  is  the  hope.  Where  Christ  has  not 
become  the  way  and  the  truth,  He  is  not  the  life.  He  is  the 
resurrection  and  the  life ;  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  has 
the  world  of  eternal  life  opened  up  to  him. 

The  experience  of  all  missionaries  shows  that  the  hope  of 
eternal  life  has  become  a  power  in  the  heathen  world.  Its 
genuineness  is  tested  in  cases  of  sickness  and  at  death-beds. 
When  the  relatives  of  Battak  Christians  die,  we  no  longer 
hear  the  wild  wailing  music  and  lamentations  in  which  the 
heathen  give  expression  to  a  sorrow  that  has  no  hope.  The 
mourning  usages,  originating  in  fear  of  the  dead,  cease  to  be 
observed,  so  far,  at  least,  as  they  are  felt  to  be  heathen. 
All  who  believe  in  an  eternal  life  quietly  and  calmly  mourn 
their  dead.2  The  sincerity  of  the  Christian  hope  is  most 
severely  tested  by  the  death  of  a  son,  above  all,  an  only  son, 
of  a  Christian  on  the  Indian  Archipelago.  Such  an  ex- 
perience has  led  many  a  heathen  mother  to  hang  herself  in 

1  It  is  unfortunate  that  the  Christian  Battak  terminology  has  adopted  the 
word  "  tondi"  for  soul,  the  animistic  word  for  soul-stuff.  This  word  makes 
it  very  difficult  for  him  to  appropriate  the  Christian  belief  in  the  resurrec- 
tion. 

:!  Missionaries  have  often  to  take  action  against  heathenish  bad  habits  in 
cases  of  death.  But  it  is  among  those  members  of  the  community  who  have 
little  knowledge  of  Jesus.  Among  all  better  Christians  the  heathen  mourn- 
ing customs  are  spontaneously  transformed  into  the  Christian  customs,  which 
are  pervaded  by  the  spirit  of  hope.  Merensky  commends  the  manner  of 
mourning  among  the  !'>;isuto  Christians. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    299 

despair.  Most  heathen  Christians  bear  the  blow  with 
resignation,  comforting  one  another,  and  saying  of  the  dead 
child :  He  has  gone  before  us.  Very  often,  though  not 
always,  the  Christian  mother  gains  sufficient  self-control 
to  come  to  church  the  Sunday  after  the  burial  of  her  child, 
though,  as  the  women  say,  her  grief  is  renewed  by  seeing 
the  many  mothers  who  have  their  darlings  still  with  them. 

Lett  gives  some  touching  examples  of  the  way  in  which 
recently  baptised  heathen  Christian  parents  of  Nias  com- 
forted one  another  at  the  death  of  their  darlings.  If  their 
grief  was  too  great  they  came  to  the  mission  station  for 
comfort.  They  took  away  with  them  the  well-known 
picture  of  Kaulbach,  entitled  "To  God."  Comforted,  they 
brought  it  back,  saying  :  "  The  heathen  can  now  say  nothing, 
for  they  saw  on  the  picture  how  our  dead  children  are  borne 
upwards  by  angels."  When  there  died  the  eldest  son  of 
Fetero,  already  mentioned,  he  could  say :  "  I  am  thankful 
that  my  son  is  at  home  with  the  Lord.  When  a  heathen, 
I  would  have  regarded  the  death  of  my  firstborn  son  as  the 
greatest  misfortune  ;  now,  however,  his  cheerful  end  has 
strengthened  all  our  faith."  A  Niasser  mother,  after  the 
death  of  her  child,  answered  the  missionary  :  "  Why  should 
I  sorrow  ?  He  has  gone  to  heaven."  A  Battak  mother 
could  say :  "  My  son  is  with  the  Lord,  removed  from  all  sin 
and  temptation  ;  I  do  not  wish  him  back."  No  one  who 
knows  the  despairing  grief  and  disconsolateness  of  heathen 
parents  will  be  able  to  explain  such  utterances  otherwise 
than  by  a  miracle  of  Divine  power. 

This  living  hope  brightens  the  death-bed  of  many  heathen 
Christians.  There  is  shown  then,  and  not  merely  in  excep- 
tional cases,  a  cheerfulness  that  must  appear  to  the  heathen 
a  kind  of  madness.  We  have  come  upon  many  edifying 
examples  of  the  vividness  of  the  eternal  hope  at  the  death- 
beds of  young  and  old  Christians  in  Sumatra.  A  Battak 
seminarist  was  languishing  in  consumption,  doomed  to  a 
death  of  great  suffering.  Without  envying  his  healthy  com- 
rades, nay,  with  joy,  he  followed  the  call  of  his  Lord  who 
came  to  take  him.     When  a  Mohammedan  visitor  wished 


300      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

health  and  long  life  to  a  dying  Battak  woman,  she  said  : 
"  I  no  longer  desire  that.  My  wish  is  now  to  go  home  to 
my  Lord  in  heaven.  Death  has  no  terrors  for  me."  Amazed, 
the  Mohammedan  replied :  "  That  is  a  language  I  do  not 
know.  We  are  anxious  and  afraid  of  death."  A  Niasser 
Christian  woman  on  her  death-bed  said:  "Why  should  I  be 
afraid  ?  Jesus  has  forgiven  my  sins  ;  now  I  must  go  home." 
Such  blessed  home-goings  of  heathen  Christians  appear  too 
frequently  in  all  missionary  reports  to  be  reckoned  exceptional. 
The  intimacv  of  the  relation  to  Jesus  the  Redeemer  and  Lord, 
whose  property  they  feel  themselves  to  be,  is  the  guarantee 
to  the  dying  of  their  salvation.  And  the  certainty  of  being 
united  with  Him  changes  the  fear  of  death  into  a  glorified  joy.1 
The  stupefied  resignation  with  which  the  heathen  departs  has 
vanished  in  the  case  of  many  Christians.  Death  has  lost  its 
sting  ;  it  has  become  to  them  the  entrance  into  life.  In  many 
cases  the  dying  feel  constrained  to  confess  their  sins  in  order  to 
remove  everything  that  stands  between  them  and  their  Saviour. 

Not  every  Christian  dies  so  cheerfully  and  peacefully. 
But  those  who  do  are  always  people  who  had  found  in  Jesus 
the  Saviour,  and  had  an  intimate  relation  to  Him.  The  more 
lively  the  communion  with  Christ  and  the  apprehension  of 
His  love,  the  more  peaceful  and  blessed  the  dying.  The 
dying  hour  tests  the  intimacy  of  their  relation  to  Jesus.  He 
who  has  Jesus  has  overcome  death. 

The  dying  are  often  said  to  see  angels  coming  to  take 
them.  A  Battak  teacher  exclaimed  in  his  death  struggle, 
"  Behold  two  angels  have  come  to  take  me."  When  the 
heathen  aunts  of  a  dying  Niasser  youth  began  to  lament,  he 
said,  "  WThy  do  you  keep  me  from  going  to  the  Lord  with 
your  howling  ?  The  angels  had  already  come,  and  would 
have  borne  me  hence,  and  it  was  so  beautiful  up  there : 
keep  quiet  that  I  may  go  home." 2     The  homegoing  often 

1  During  the  persecution  of  the  Christians  in  Madagascar,  the  murderers 
repeatedly  declared:  "There  is  a  magic  in  the  religion  of  the  white  people 
tli.it  takes  away  the  fear  of  death." 

1  Mrrensky  reports  from  Botschabelo  :  "It  was  remarkable  that  many 
before  their  end  saw  visions  and  heard  voices  ;  they  mostly  saw  white  forms, 
which  they  often  described  as  our  own  who  have  come  to  call  us." 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    301 

think  they  see  Jesus  Himself  coming  to  take  them  home. 
In  Mayera  (Gold  Coast)  the  chief,  Salomo,  lay  dying.  After 
touchingly  exhorting  all  present,  he  exclaimed,  "  My  Lord 
Jesus,  with  many  departed  brethren,  comes  to  take  me  home." 
To  the  question  whether  he  saw  them  he  replied,  "  Do  you 
not  see  them,  do  you  not  hear  their  song  ?  The  Saviour  is 
present  with  companions  before  and  behind  Him  ;  they  have 
taken  me  into  their  midst,  and  will  lead  me  into  the  heavenly 
city."  A  dying  Chinese  woman,  eighteen  years  of  age,  looked 
upwards,  and  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  "  Jesus  is  coming,  Jesus 
has  come."  A  Papuan  Christian  woman  exclaimed  when 
dying,  "Jesus  calls  me,  I  come."  The  liveliness  of  their 
experience  of  God,  and  the  believing,  child-like  intercourse 
with  the  Saviour  which  they  cultivate,  are  the  presuppositions 
of  such  experiences  in  the  hour  of  death,  the  reality  of  which 
we  have  no  reason  to  doubt.  The  hour  of  death  frequently 
reveals  to  us  missionaries  that  there  was  more  genuine  faith 
in  a  heathen  Christian  than  we  had  supposed. 

The  hope  of  the  world  to  come  is  not  so  prominent  in  their 
lives  as  in  the  life  of  the  early  Church.  As  far  as  my  observa- 
tion goes,  the  judgment  of  the  world,  the  end  of  the  world, 
and  eternal  life,  have  less  influence  on  the  lives  of  the  newly 
converted  than  the  other  motives  I  have  mentioned.  The 
judicial  function  of  Jesus  at  the  end  of  the  world  is  perhaps 
that  on  which  the  religious  feeling  of  animistic  heathen 
Christians  reacts  least.  But  I  cannot  say  whether  the  same 
thing  is  true  everywhere  among  uncivilised  peoples.  The 
heathen  Christian  never  doubts  the  eschatological  statements 
of  the  evangelic  message,  but  these  do  not  enter  into  his  con- 
sciousness with  the  same  vividness,  and  do  not  have  such 
fruitful  results  as  the  gifts  of  redemption,  of  communion  with 
God,  and  the  love  of  God  which  he  has  actually  received  and 
gratefully  enjoys.1 

It  is  only  natural  that  the  poor,  the  sick,  and  the  heavy 
laden  should  grasp  most  intensely  the  thought  of  heaven,  and 
that  this  side  of  the  proclamation  should  have  special  attrac- 
tion for  them.     In  the  Battak  leper  colony  many  visitors 

1  Cf.  above,  p.  276. 


302      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

have  been  surprised  at  beholding  the  joyousness  of  these 
heavily  afflicted  cripples.  What  makes  them  so  cheerful  in 
their  misery  ?  They  themselves  say  :  The  message  that  God 
has  called  even  them,  the  outcasts,  to  His  heaven,  and  that 
they  will  there  receive  a  clean,  healthy  body.1  As  heathen 
they  believed  that  lepers  would  be  lepers  and  pariahs  in  the 
other  world  just  as  here.  Now,  begotten  to  the  Christian 
hope,  these  lepers  die  cheerfully.  No  power  in  this  world 
could  have  snatched  them  from  their  stupid  fatalism :  Jesus 
has  done  it  by  His  unspeakable  gift.  The  poor,  the  suffering, 
widows  and  slaves,  grasp  joyfully  the  hope  of  a  life  where 
God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes.  That  hope 
aives  them  strength  to  bear  their  cross  patiently.2  How 
could  the  martyrs  of  Madagascar,  China,  Uganda,  South 
Africa  have  been  ready  to  endure  a  painful  death  for  their 
Lord  if  there  had  not  been  in  them  the  living  power  of  a 
hope  of  reunion  with  Him  ?  What  forces  must  be  at  work 
in  a  heathen  heart  to  change  its  fatalistic  resignation  to  death 
into  the  triumphant  gladness  of  a  witness  unto  blood !  The 
power  of  Jesus  revealing  itself  in  the  Gospel  has  succeeded 
in  transforming  earthly-minded  heathen  into  men  whose 
citizenship  is  in  heaven  where  they  know  Jesus  Christ  to  be 
their  deliverer  and  the  finisher  of  their  salvation. 

Rich  and  manifold  is  the  gift  of  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen  ; 
it  offers  them  assured  knowledge  of  the  supernatural ;  it 
vouches  for  the  truth  as  God's  free  gift ;  it  puts  them  in 
personal  communion  with  the  living  God;  it  delivers  them 
from  the  hard  bondage  in  which  they  were  held  captive  by 
the  non-gods  and  from  tormenting  fear  in  every  form  ;  it 
pours  over  them  the  warm  sunshine  of  God's  love  ;  it  anoints 
their  blinded  eyes  and  makes  them  see  the  primal  cause  of 

1  The  same  results  appeared  in  some  lepers  of  New  Bethel,  South  Africa, 
who  with  gnat  joy  received  the  message  of  the  hope  of  a  better  life  in  the 
other  world.  Nottrott  has  a  similar  report  of  lepers  who  were  cared  for  by  the 
Kols  Mission. 

"  M  my  of  the  sick,  like  that  sick  man  on  Nias,  were  fond  of  hearing  about 
the  future  life.  He  often  asked  the  missionary  :  Tell  me  something  about 
eternal  life. 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    303 

their  misery  in  sin  side  by  side  with  the  divinely  effected 
reconciliation  ;  it  equips  them  with  powers  for  a  holy  walk 
with  God ;  it  gladdens  and  strengthens  their  hearts  by  the 
blessed  hope  of  an  eternal  perfect  life  with  God.  The 
heathen  are  won  by  "  the  good  message  "  as  a  gift,  not  as  a 
demand,  not  as  instruction.  Ironical  superiority  and  the  tone 
of  definite  command  are  equally  foreign  to  it ;  it  allures  and 
invites  the  weary  with  soothing  words  and  promises  to  give 
them  rest  for  their  souls. 

The  great  gift  of  God,  unfolding  itself  so  variously,  is 
adapted  to  the  needs  of  animistic  heathenism.  That 
heathenism  hungers  for  certainty,  and  an  authoritative  self- 
communication  from  God ;  it  gropes  after  the  one  God  to 
whom  power  appertains ;  it  sighs  for  deliverance  from  the 
bitter  service  of  the  transient ;  it  is  painfully  destitute  of  love, 
for  it  breathes  an  atmosphere  of  fear ;  it  is  perishing  in  the 
mire  of  its  immorality  and  barbarity ;  it  is  filled  with  terror 
in  presence  of  the  grave  and  the  other  world.  All  heathen 
have  not,  of  course,  a  clear  perception  of  these  needs.  We 
can  only  speak  of  a  latent  longing.  But  any  one  laying  his 
ear  to  the  heart  of  heathenism  may  trace  the  low  pulsation 
of  the  longing  for  deliverance.  A  man  may  carry  about  with 
him  a  consuming  disease  without  knowing  its  name,  nay, 
without  knowing  how  ill  he  is ;  only,  in  moments  of  self- 
reflection,  he  suspects  that  there  is  something  wrong  with 
him  he  cannot  define.  Apparently  contented  and  satisfied 
with  their  religion,  the  animistic  heathen  are  sick  unto 
death  ;  for  they  have  missed  their  destiny.  They  cannot  say 
that  it  is  God  they  need ;  at  first  they  will  hardly  admit  it. 
Custom,  materialism,  laziness,  have  covered  the  tender, 
sensitive  organ  of  the  soul  with  a  callous  coating  of  horn. 
The  magnetic  needle  is  rusted,  the  glass  of  conscience  dulled 
by  mire  and  dust.  But  the  clear  light  of  the  Gospel  falls  on 
them,  and  the  defects  are  seen  one  by  one.  The  light  grows 
clearer ;  the  outlines  of  the  hidden  things  stand  out  more 
sharply  defined. 

The  Gospel  names  the  deadly  disease  of  heathenism  with 
clear,  pitiless  truthfulness;  it  tears  away  from  the  heathen 


304     THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

the  veil  of  Belf-deceptioD  ;  it  says  to  tlicm  tenderly,  but 
decidedly  :  You  are  walking  in  error  under  the  curse  of 
lies ;  you  are  far  from  God,  slaves  of  the  devil,  loveless, 
unclean,  hopeless.  This  clear  assured  diagnosis  saddens  the 
Bick  man,  but  without  it  the  gift  cannot  be  appreciated  or 
the  Deliverer  laid  hold  of.  Over  against  the  defects,  of 
which  they  have  now  become  conscious,  the  Gospel  places 
the  corresponding  gift,  and  asks :  Wilt  thou  be  made 
whole?  And  there  are  plenty  of  heathen  who  are  not 
willing  to  be  made  whole.  These  the  Gospel  cannot  help. 
Often  the  sense  of  defect  is  awakened  by  the  offer  of  the  gift. 
The  right  medicine  may  cure  before  the  patient  has  heard  the 
name  of  his  disease,  if  only  he  willingly  accepts  the  whole- 
some draught. 

The  offer  and  acceptance  of  the  evangelic  gift  need  not 
follow  strictly  the  order  I  have  set  forth.  One  facet  or 
another  of  the  jewel  may  flash  before  their  eyes  with 
attracting  splendour,  according  to  their  tribal  excellences 
or  defects,  according  to  the  personal  experiences  and  needs 
of  the  individual.  What  makes  itself  painfully  felt  as  a  defect 
will  first  cry  out  for  healing  and  satisfaction.  It  is  of  little 
consequence  whether  is  first  experienced  the  power  of  God 
contrasted  with  the  impotence  of  idols,  or  fear  of  the  spirits 
drawing  the  enslaved  to  the  Deliverer,  God's  love  driving  the 
selfish  heathen  to  his  knees,  the  hope  of  a  perfect  life,  or  the 
longing  for  moral  purity.  The  entrance  to  the  fortress  will 
be  from  the  weakest  side  ;  the  missionary  must  seek  for  that. 

The  animistic  heathen  is  a  member  of  a  flock  ;  any  gift  of 
the  Gospel  will  help  to  quicken  within  him  personal  thought 
and  will ;  and  from  that  side  the  Gospel  will  conquer  him. 
Hut  every  man's  way  to  God  is  unique ;  in  the  spiritual  life 
there  are  no  moulds.  Still  there  are  types.  We  have 
attempted  to  describe  the  typical  conversion  of  the  Animist. 
Individuals  come  to  God  by  a  narrow  footpath,  steep  and 
toilsome.  The  inward  change  is  always  very  complicated 
whenever  a  heathen  turns  from  his  gods  and  gains  a  personal 
knowledge  of  the  true  God.  The  object  of  our  inquiry  was 
to  analyse  and  describe  as  far  as  possible  the  conditions  of 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    305 

this  great  experience,  and  the  factors,  human  and  Divine, 
natural  and  supernatural,  that  were  operative  in  it. 

A  ray  of  light  passing  through  a  prism  is  diffracted  into  a 
band  of  many  colours.  The  physicist  can  note  how  the  one 
white  ray  is  broken  up  into  many  particular  rays,  each  of 
which  has  a  special  form  and  special  qualities.  Our  inquiry 
is  like  this  spectrum  analysis.  We  have  set  under  the 
magnifying  glass  the  ray  of  Divine  power  shining  amid  the 
darkness  of  heathenism,  and  have  noted  its  manifold  varie- 
gated diffractions  gleaming  like  a  band  of  colours  in  a  dark 
chamber.  The  physicist  can  gather  together  again  these 
scattered  points  of  colour,  and,  passing  them  through  his 
prism,  form  them  into  the  one  white  ray.  Our  inquiry  has 
clearly  revealed  what  is  this  one  dazzling  ray,  central  force 
of  all  the  scattered  gifts  and  powers  of  the  Gospel — Jesus 
Christ,  the  God-man.  In  Him  we  see  the  animating  light  of 
the  spiritual  world,  the  sun  of  its  planetary  system.  All 
Divine  life  in  human  hearts  comes  from  Him  as  all  terrestrial 
life  comes  from  the  sun.  Every  spiritual  power  is  a  radiation 
from  Him. 

The  human  eye  does  not  perceive  every  colour  of  the  sun 
spectrum ;  it  cannot  see  the  ultra-violet  or  ultra-red  rays. 
So  we  perceive  but  a  limited  number  of  the  expressions  of 
the  Divine  power ;  many  are  still  hidden  from  our  eye.  All 
that  we  can  perceive  are  but  fragments,  but  these  are  quicken- 
ing radiations  of  the  Divine  light,  and  actual  proofs  of  its 
vigorous  reality. 

When  the  ray  of  light  passes  through  gaseous  bodies, 
certain  characteristic  obscurations  are  shown  in  the  colour 
band  of  the  spectrum.  When  the  Divine  light  passes  through 
human  hearts,  there  are  dark  stains  on  the  spectrum  ;  the 
power  of  God  never  appears  to  us  in  its  purity,  the  light  is 
always  troubled  by  earthly  mixtures.  Hence  every  picture 
of  human  conversion  exhibits  disfiguring  spots,  obscurations 
of  the  light,  more  or  less  deep,  which  have  their  origin  in  the 
human  heart.     The  inquiry  has  set  them  in  relief. 

Jesus  Christ  is  the  Divine  light  which  warms  and  animates 
the  world.  Our  inquiry,  supported  in  this  by  the  unanimous 
u 


306     THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

experience  of  evangelic  missions,  has  shown  that  Jesus  be- 
comes in  constant  growing  measure  the  light  of  the  heathen  ; 
that  their  transformation  is  accomplished  in  Him  and  through 
Him.    The  mind  of  Jesus  is  the  measure  of  their  new  creation. 
At  the  first  contact  of  the  heathen  with  the  Gospel,  His 
person  seems  to  have  little  influence  ;  yet  it  is  at  work  there 
behind  the  curtain.     The  heathen  receives  the  self-attesting 
revelation  of  God  ;  it  is  only  a  preparation  for  Jesus.     When 
he  experiences  further  the  power  of  the  personal  living  God 
through  the  Bible  history  and  his  own  experience  of  God's 
omnipotence,    he   experiences    it    more    or   less   consciously 
through  Jesus  who  has  come  into  humanity.     The  picture  of 
God  which  the  heathen  gains  through  Jesus  becomes  ever 
clearer  and  more  intelligible  to  him.     Jesus,  because  He  is 
God  and  man,  can  become  to  him  the  impersonation  of  God. 
Jesus  is  the  Mediator  between  God  and   man,  the  bridge 
between  the  supernatural  and  natural ;  in  Him  the  invisible 
becomes    corporeal.      Jesus    is    to    the    heathen    also    the 
Deliverer,  who  with  a  strong  hand  has  set  them  free  from 
Satan's  service,  from   fear  and  fate.      Visibly  to  all  He  is 
fighting  victoriously  in  the  interests  of  all  the  great  conflict 
in  man's  life  between  good  and  evil,  that  conflict  in  which 
the  man  estranged  from  God  is  ever  defeated.     But  Jesus 
becomes  greatest  to  the  heathen  Christian  when  He  is  seen 
to  be  the  love  of  God.     Without  the  God-man  the  heathen 
world  would  never  comprehend  the  Gospel  of  love.     The 
Crucified  vanquishes  hearts  unaccustomed   to  love  with  a 
power  which  shines  with  special  clearness  in  the  darkness  of 
the  heathen  world.     Jesus  only,  who  gave  Himself,  the  Just 
for  the  unjust,  awakens  in  the  self-righteous  hearts  of  the 
heathen  the  humbling  consciousness  of  guilt  towards  God. 
Godless  humanity  perceives  its  sin  in  Him  who  knew  no  sin, 
but  was  made  sin  for  sinners.     Sin,  in  being  visited  upon  the 
Holy  One,  is  unveiled  in  its  hateful  nakedness  and  hostility 
to  God.     Only  the  death  of  Jesus  can  effect  this  miracle.     In 
the  same  way  it  is  Jesus  only  who  brings  about  the  moral 
transformation  of  the  heathen   Christian.      The  disciple  of 
Jesus   enters  with    a   growing   earnestness   into   the   moral 


THE  VICTORIOUS  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL    307 

conflict  because  of  the  relation  to  his  Saviour  he  has  gained. 
His  fellowship  with  Jesus  is  the  strength  of  all  his  moral 
conduct.  Only  he  who  has  found  Jesus  and  who  abideth  in 
Him  brings  forth  fruit.  He  who  has  Jesus  the  Saviour  can, 
in  His  strength  and  for  His  sake,  forgive,  love,  give,  speak 
the  truth,  be  honest,  chaste,  humble,  patient,  kind.  Finally, 
in  the  Risen  Jesus  is  rooted  the  hope  of  an  eternal  life,  i.e. 
a  form  of  existence  where  the  believer  is  united  with  the 
Saviour  whom  he  loves,  and  enjoys  unbroken  fellowship 
with  Him. 

So  far  as  the  heathen  Christian  has  Jesus  he  has  the  gold 
of  genuine  spiritual  life.  All  else  is  Talmi  (gilded  brass). 
He  has  communion  with  God  so  far  as  he  has  apprehended 
Jesus.  He  is  warmed  by  the  love  of  God  so  far  as  it  has 
been  revealed  to  him  by  Jesus.  His  knowledge  of  sin 
depends  on  the  measure  of  his  experience  of  Jesus'  love.  He 
fights  against  sin  with  the  zeal  which  is  kindled  by  Jesus, 
and  cools  or  glows  according  to  his  relation  to  Him.  He 
strives  to  do  good  so  far  as  he  is  impelled  and  strengthened 
by  communion  with  Jesus.  His  worldliness  is  overcome  by 
the  hope  of  an  eternal  life,  in  proportion  as  the  intimacy  of 
his  relation  to  Jesus  makes  him  partly  experience  and  partly 
long  for  union  with  Him.  There  is  no  heathen  Christian 
walking  in  the  truth  whose  moral  and  religious  strength  is 
not  Jesus,  who  has  not  found  the  highest  good  in  communion 
with  his  Saviour.  Wherever  a  heathen  Christian  surprises 
us  by  his  delight  in  prayer,  his  childlike  faith,  his  sincere  love 
to  the  Saviour  and  to  his  fellow  men,  his  steadfastness  in 
suffering,  his  courage  in  confessing,  his  zeal  in  testifying,  his 
readiness  for  sacrifice,  the  earnestness  of  his  Christian  walk, 
the  joyfulness  of  his  departure  from  this  world,  we  find  that 
these  are  expressions  of  his  life  of  fellowship  with  Jesus. 
Jesus  has  become  so  central  that  He  inspires  not  only  grati- 
tude but  adoration  and  Divine  worship. 

Single  powers  may  be  got  from  Jesus.  The  evening  red  is 
lovely,  though  it  only  brings  out  one  of  the  coloured  rays  of 
the  spectrum.  They  who  touch  the  hem  of  the  Saviour's 
garment  acquire  some  virtue  from  the  touch.     The  heathen 


308      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

who  prize  Jesus  only  as  the  conqueror  of  demons  are  in 
reality  set  free  by  Him. 

Whatever  any  one  receives  from  Jesus,  however  small  it 
be,  and  though  it  lie  only  on  the  outer  crust  of  life,  is  still 
real  and  full  of  power.  None  of  us  has  more  than  certain 
rays  of  the  Light  of  the  world.  The  disciples  took  little  from 
Jesus  at  first,  but  that  little  was  living  power:  it  worked  in 
them  mightily.  The  gray  of  morning  deepening  into  orange 
leads  to  the  sun's  white  splendour,  with  all  its  beauty  and 
power.  Once  within  the  sphere  of  Jesus'  power,  heathen 
Christians,  if  only  their  wills  consent,  are  led  from  glory  to 
glory.1  If  only  it  is  power  from  Jesus  they  take,  and  not 
some  worthless  substitute,  they  will  steadily  grow  in  the 
inner  man.  The  gift  may  come  to  them  in  earthen  vessels : 
it  may  be  received  into  earthen  vessels ;  but  it  is  not  the 
vessels  which  condition  the  life  of  the  new  man ;  it  is  the 
content,  the  power  of  God  therein.  Without  this  power  the 
messenger  of  the  Gospel  would  soon  lose  all  joy  in  mission 
work.  But  to  be  the  bearer  of  living  Divine  forces  is  the 
missionaries'  honour  and  strength  and  joy. 

The  evangelists  when  they  testify  of  Jesus  use  very 
significant  words :  "  There  went  power  out  of  Him  and 
healed  them  all."  Out  of  Him  goes  the  power  that  attracts, 
melts,  and  fashions  anew  the  hearts  of  the  heathen,  wakening 
in  them  life  and  love  and  hope.  Never  man  has  wrought  as 
this  man.  He  is  the  power  of  God  entering  into  humanity. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  of  heathen  Christians  who  have 
passed  from  death  to  life  bow  their  knees  to  Him,  and 
joyfully  declare :  "  Neither  is  there  salvation  in  any  other,  for 
there  is  none  other  name  under  heaven  given  among  men 
whereby  we  may  be  saved  than  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ." 

1  Utschimura  says  of  himself :  "  After  I  had  laid  hold  upon  the  Son  of  Clod 
my  inner  life  was  a  movement  upwards  and  downwards,  but  more  upwards 
khan  downwards"  (p.  89). 


INDEX 


Activity  of  God,  212 
Abortion,  52 

Adultery,  51,  86,  126,  152,  129 
Amulets,  52,  79,  202 
Ancestors,  their  worship,  70 

highest  order  of  spirits,  63 

guardians  of  customs,  66  f. 

farewell  feast,  244 

worshipped  through  fear,  40, 

64 
Animism — 

A  philosophy  of  nature,  81  f. 

A  degenerate  religion,  99 

Produces  cruelty,  116 

Produces  immorality,  151 

Its  superficial  attractiveness,  82 

Elements  of  truth  in,  185 

The  presupposition  of  spiritism, 
40,  63 
Animistic  heathen — 

Really  &0eoi,  108 

No  sense  of  responsibility,  84 

Religious  ignorance,  83 

Bondage  to  fear,  118 

Antipathy  to  foreign  religions, 
136 
Animistic  religion,  sadness  of,  81 
ethics,  85 

Batara  Guru,  28  ff.,  35  ff. 

Begu,  59,  62 

Bible- 
Studied  by  converts,  282 
Superstitions  thereanent,  164 
The  power  of  its  narratives,  225  ff. 
Vindication  of  their  historicity, 
231 

Blood- 
Contains  soul-stuff,  43 
Element  of  sacrifice,  38 
Drinking,  51-54 

Breath  magic,  54 

Bride,  selection,  53 


Buddhism,  103,  114 
Burial  customs,  59,  76 

Cannibalism,  51,  128 
Certainty,  desire  for,  86 
Character,  preordained,  154 
Chiefs,  rabid  opponents  of  Chris- 
tianity, 144 
Childbed,  death  in,  52,  62,  68,  78, 

128 
Children,  training,  123 

=  chastisement,  47 

China,  103 

Chinese  ancestor-worship,  113 
Cholera,  spirit  who  causes,  68 
Christianising  of  nation  the  aim  of 

missions,  145  f. 
Christianity  viewed  as  a  powerful 

magic,  166 
Civilisation,  201,  243 
Coffins,  55,  60,  61,  68,  70,  109 
Communism,  121,  130,  136,  146, 

276  ff. 
Confucius,  103 
Conscience — 

Not  an  organ  of  morality,  58, 
130,  149 

The  change  in  conversion,  268 
Conservatism,  67,  138 
Conversion,  its  stages,  218,  257 
Converts — 

Their  experiences — 

Ama-Gahonoa,  221,  255  f. 
Utschimura,  148,  210,  292 

Their  difficulties,  269 

Their  courage,  218 

Their  gratitude,  272 
Covenants,  54 
Creator,  the,  69 
Cross,  its  power,  257  ff- 
Custom,  m,  85, 127,  279  ff.,  287  f. 

its  guardians,  127  ff.,  144  f. 

tyranny,  130,  152 

309 


310      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 


Death,    confidence    of   converts, 

1".)!)  ff. 

hopelessness  of  heathen,  21G 

Dead,  fear  of,  66 

sacrifices  to,  76 

Debate,  34,  96,  104 
Decalogue,  147,  107 
Degeneration,  religious,  09,  32  f., 

98  ff.,  103,  133 
Demons — 

Worshipped,  <>4,  07,  110 

Realities  to  the  heathen,  104,110 
Determinism — 

Wide  spread,  107 

.Moral  hindrance,  1-54,  276 
Development,  98  ff.,  198,  201,  217 
Devil,  117  ff. 
1  distrust,  95 
Divinity  of  Jesus,  210 
Divorce,  53,  271 
Dreams — 

Their  influence,  87,  170  ff. 

Soul  leaving  body,  42,  46 

Early    Church,    illustrated    and 
compared — 

Its  view  of  demons,  119 

View  of  idolatry,  118 

Eschatology,  270,  301 
Education — 

Desired  by  heathen,  102  ff. 

And  superstition,  207 
Ethics,  animistic,  85 
Europeans — 

Their  authority,  165 

Dissolute  conduct,  107 

Suspected,  139 
Evangelistic  zeal  of  converts,  272 
Existence,  struggle  for,  125 

Faith  of  converts,  217 
Famine,  160 
Fatalism,  48,  108,  120 
Fear — 

IN  tyranny,  108 

Essence  of  heathenism,  110 

Mourning  customs,  100 
Fetiches,  49,  51,  202,  238 
foods,  prohibition  of,  50,  80,  142 
Forgiveness,  154,  271 
Freedom.  235,  241,  247,  278 
future     life,    incredible     to     the 

heathen,  132,  295  f. 


(ion — 

Activity  of,  212 

Dimly  known,  90 

Eclipsed  by  fate,  100 

Not  a  development  from   spirit 

worship,  98 
Hints  of  a  latent  higher  concep- 
tion, 35 
Unity,  211 

Special  providences,  175  f. 
Known  in  Jesus,  210 
Love  revealed  only  in  the  Cross, 

256 
Contrasted   with    impotence    of 
idols,  213-215 
Golden  age,  100 
Good,  the  highest,  130 
Gospel — 

Diversity  of  gifts,  18,189 
And  Mohammedanism,  141 
Necessity  of  a  personal  present- 
ment, 194 
Moral  greatness  unfelt,  141, 147 
Divine     preparations,    182     ff., 

157  ff- 

Saves  from  fear,  233 

Beneficent  results,  243 

Self-attesting  power,  196 
Government — 

Influence  of  European,  171  ff. 
Gratitude  of  converts,  272 
Grave,  the,  59,  05,  70,  70,  109 

Hair,  soul-stuff  in,  44,  50,  01,  71 , 
249 

Hawk,  59 

Head-hunting,    43,   01,   110,   151, 
170,  220,  237 

Heathen — 

Rigorously  conservative,  138 

Eminently  religious,  27,  80 

No  interest  in  spiritual  things, 

L30,  143 
Self-righteous,  150,  155 
No   sense  of  honesty  or  truth, 

93 
Their  misery,  157,  158 
Hopelessness  in  dying,  182 
Impressed    by    authority,     191, 

1!>7 
Untroubled  by  doubt,  199 

Heathen  Christians — 
Their  faith,  217 


INDEX 


311 


Heathen  Christians — 

Sense  of  freedom,  241 

Gratitude,  28."? 

Liherality,  283 

Brotherly  love,  284 

Courage,  285 
Heathenism — 

Its  moral  defects,  122-130 

Vis  inertia,  135,  144,  280 
Human  sacrifices,  59,  128 

Ioolatry  in  Apostolic  times  and 
among  the  heathen,  118,  248  f. 

Immortality,  63,  132 

Influence  of  preacher's  personality, 
167  if. 

Japan,  103, 148,  162,  210,  229 
Jesus — 

The  way  to  the  Father,  216,  231 

His  Divinity,  216 

Conqueror  of  demons,  234  f. 

Lord  and  Saviour,  262,  271 
Judgment,  Last,  106 

Karens,  42,  111,  146,  180 
Kingdom  of  God,  236 

of   the    dead,   61,   65,    109, 

131 
Korea,  238 

Lamentations,  their  special  dia- 
lect, 65 

Legends — 

Origin  of  man,  29 
Creation  of  the  world,  30 
Eclipse  of  sun  and  moon,  32  f. 
Incarnation  of  Son  of  God,  209 
Intercourse   between   gods   and 

men,  101 
Sugar  palm,  49 
Tree  of  human  destiny,  47 

Leprosy,  62,  301 

Livingstone,  35,  171 

Love  potions,  54 

Lying  an  exhibition  of  skill,  86, 
95 

Magic,  54,  65,  110 
Marriage,  151 
Magicians — 

The  only  people  who  know,  86 


Magicians — 

Missionary  viewed  as  a,  50, 144, 

240 
Rabid  opponents  of  Christianity, 
145 
Matriarchate,  125 
Mediums,  70,  72  ff.,  78,  87 
Memory  of  better  times,  97,  100 
Mendacity,  94 
Miracles,  165,  175  f. 
Missions — 

Mediaeval    methods    compared, 

137,  146 
Success   in    preaching,    102  ff., 

202  ff.,  224 
Reactive     influence     on     home 

Church,  21 
Zeal  of  converts,  272  ff. 
Mohammedanism,  114  f. 
Morality  of  converts,  223,  268  f., 
276  ff.,  288  ff. 

Names,  importance  of,  46,  290 
National  defects,  279 

virtues,  125 

■  customs,  280  ff. 

religion,  137 

Panguluralang,  77  f. 
Parable  by  a  Battak,  87 
Peace,  longing  for,  161 
Politeness,  122,  126,  142,  150 
Polygamy,  123 
Poor  oppressed,  65 
Possession  by  spirits,  72  ff. 
Poverty,  158 
Prayers,  heathen,  37 

converts',  219  ff. 

Preacher,  his  personal  influence, 
167  f. 

must  be  dogmatic,  149  f. 

Predictions,  179  f. 
Priests,  86,  101 
Proverbs,  91 
Public  opinion,  287 

Relapse  into  heathenism,  279,  289 
Responsibility,  278 
Resurrection,  297  ff. 
Retribution,  62,  86,  129 
Revelation,  196 
Rice  Christians,  160 
Riches,  passion  for,  65 


312      THE  LIVING  FORCES  OF  THE  GOSPEL 


Sacraments,  magical  motions   of, 

291 
Sacrifices,  69 

human,  59,  116,  128 

Shamanism,  71 
Sick,  torture  of,  158 
Sin — 

Heathen    conceptions,  67,    127, 
1 50,  203 

Sense  of,  amongst  converts,  234, 
247,  260  ff. 
Slaves,  01,  130,  158 
Sombaon,  02,  70 
Soul — 

Animistic  idea  of,  40  fF.,  151 

A  separate  entity,  42,  54-00 

Its  pre-existence,  29,  107 
Soul-stuff,  42  f,  48,  51 
Spirits — 

Heathen  notions,  59,  (58  f.,  78  ff., 
239 


Suicide,  02,  08 

Superstition  not  destroyed  by  edu- 
cation, 207 
destroyed  by  the  Gospel,  291 

Tertullian,  118 
Theft,  50,  86 
Tradition,  84,  127,  138 
Trial  by  ordeal,  34,  95,  129 « 
Truth-seeking  souls  in  heathenism, 
182  ff. 

Unchastity,  128 
Unity  of  God,  211 

Visions,  180  f. 

White  man,  dominance  of,  165 
Widows  and  widowers,  59  f.,  158, 

293 
Worldliness,  130,  294  f. 
AVundt,  42 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary-  Speer  Librar) 


1    1012 


056  3437 


Date  Due 

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"WW"-^! 

JUN.  1  5  19; 

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$ 

WARNEOK  Z  -  Hist. 

Living  Christ... 


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